The Footsteps are Fading
by Saki-chan2
Summary: Akuma and Kami come to play with the Digidestined. This fic takes place with the second and first season characters, and gets rather philosophical at the end. Stick with it, I know it's long! Complete.
1. Chapter One

**The Footsteps are Fading**

**Chapter One**

"War, Davis, is not about winning. It's not about courage, comradeship, or blood spill either. If you held war in any sort of white light, called it dignified in your mind, would you please strip it of those ideas. War is nothing more than ignorant, immature adults who are allowed to shoot a gun, and think they have found a reason, and a person, to shoot at."

Deep lines creased the brow of the team's brave leader as he said this. His gaze pierced well into the horizon from their high altitude, but a person didn't need to see far to watch the carnage. Deep in the desert large clouds of smoke billowed up to the gray sky, and at their bases were fiery orange moieties of explosions, half circles hugging the charred ground. There were no more towns or people down there now, and if there were they would be badly injured. The entire digital team was present to watch, to despair, as the angry explosions ripped through the digital world, and the scintilla scent of burning earth and bodies drifted up to them on a soughing wind. 

"Who is doing this?" Jou mumbled, almost to himself. Far back in his thoughts he could remember the images of Hiroshima; the death tolls, the reason. Even after years of contemplating the motive didn't seem legitimate. He agreed whole heartedly with Taichi on the matter of reason; there was no valid reason to kill so many people.

"I wish that we could do something," stated Mimi quietly, "but I think that we just don't have that special something anymore."

Taichi set his jaw hard, thinking of all the things that they could have done against such a monster in their younger days. Even the second generation of the digital world saviors were loosing that "special something", and no word had been heard concerning children to replace them. Utterly worthless, though, to think about what could have been done in a different place and time. Now continued to be now, and no one had the option of turning that around. He studied the faces of his comrades and saw the same thoughts in their eyes. Either they wait for some replacements, or they try and fight anyway. Taichi knew that they would lose should it come to fighting, but he would be sure to make an end worth remembering. And yet, worth remembering by whom? His eyes glowered at this thought and returned to the explosion-riddled milieu. No one; because that was the warrior's way.

"You're not a warrior, Taichi, so don't force yourself to think like one."

For the first time that day, a smile creased the long-forgotten lines on Taichi's face at the sound of Jenai's old man voice. Finally the day of news would come to the digidestined.   

"What long-expected news do you bring, Jenai? Don't mistake I've been biting my fingernails waiting for you, or is that the kind of grand entrance that you want?"

"No, no, Taichi, I would not wish to be so dramatic (bad for the heart). I had pressing matters to attend to, ones which needed my attention for many months. I am sorry I sent no word, but it was impossible, you see, for I was in the wilderness, making very careful and imperative decisions. Decisions that might be enough to stop this war," he sighed then, and he looked twice as old as he had ever been before. He scanned the faded line in the distance with his wrinkled and hazy blue eyes, bunching up his shoulders with copious amounts of worries by the minute.

"Jenai," Tai said softly, and placed a hand reassuringly on the man who was half his height, "did these decisions deal with a new generation of digidestined?"

The withered man raised his puffy white eyebrows high, clearly confused.

"New digidestined? Oh, no, no, that would take years and years to decide. Why, all of you were chosen at birth and so we had to wait quite a few years for you to save us." He laughed at the group's surprised visages and continued in his slow, comforting voice. "No, Taichi, I was deciding just who among you would become active as a digidestined again."

The group gaped at him openly, even Koushiro and Ken, who were now very refined gentlemen indeed. He chuckled a few times and then spoke again, much too slow to the likes of his impatient listeners.

"Yes, yes, I know what you all are thinking. You're probably thinking that you are much too old to do anymore adventuring."

"No, sir, Jenai," Koushiro said as he stepped in, "I always was under the impression that the possibility of digivolving declined at a certain age."

"Which it does, which it does. I never put it beyond all of you to figure that one out. I understand that even our brave and fearless leader Taichi is coming up upon his twenty-ninth year. Ha, you still look to be fifteen, with all your muscles and good looks. It's in my knowledge that your ability to have your digimon, Agumon was his name if I'm not mistaken, digivolve began to disintegrate around your fifteenth birthday. Now, that is why I said 'active _again_'. Unfortunately, only a handful of you can be selected." He took a deep breath and tried to meet their pressing eyes. "This, as it seems, is what took me so long to decide. I chose to not tell you as to not favor any of you. Five of you can be chosen, no more and no less. So, with much deliberation betwixt my instinct and my reason, I have chosen those I think would work the greatest together and would save this planet for sure. 

"Daisuki: your natural leading skills have improved and blossomed since your first adventures here, as well as your control. Your strength, leadership, and courage are the first things essential to making this plan work. I have chosen you to be the company's leader. Do you accept?"

Daisuki nodded vigorously, not sure whether to be beaming or afraid for his life. He glanced over at Taichi, wondering if there would be any hard feelings after this. Perhaps Taichi would still tag along. In fact, he had no doubt that the ultra-perfect leader (in his eyes) would be chosen to go. It was no secret that Taichi was the strongest in the group. 

"Good. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Daisuki. And in accordance to your personality, I have chosen a person that I think will be both helpful and invaluable. Koushiro: I need you to do the technical planning on this mission. Your brains and bottomless knowledge will surely make this mission possible. I know that you accept."

Koushiro smiled a gaucherie grin, also feeling the first seeds of fear plant themselves.

"Thank you. Hikari: Your grace and wonderful healing powers will undoubtedly be enhanced on this mission. When one is hurt, I need you to be there for them, both spiritually and physically. Can you do this for me and for the digital world?"

"I will do my best, Jenai," she said quietly. Catching Taichi's glance, she quickly slapped on a grin and forced a small "gee-no-pressure" laugh. Jenai smiled back at her seemingly irrepressible happiness.

"Takeru, your strength and cool head are needed to complete this group. Will you accept being the last member to this company?"

Takeru looked at him oddly, and then around at everyone else.

"I will accept, but weren't there supposed to be five people?"

"Yes, five. You, Hikari, Koushiro, Daisuki, and…" He trailed off slowly, his mouth closing up and then opening again. "Oh no…" he stuttered, "I forgot to put one more person in!"

He stared off into space for a long while, not even blinking, while the rest of the team stood on their toenails wondering who he would pick at such short notice. All thought that they would be helpful in some way, but mostly all wanted to feel the sensation of fighting again. Several moments passed until Jenai finally looked someone in the eye again. 

"It seems that I have made a dreadful error, one not worth forgiveness. I need your help once again, digidestined, for I am too tired to make the decision. Choose among yourself who should go and I shall deem it correct or not."

With that, he sat back on a large rock and stared at the deadly silent group. Finally, Jou broke the silence.

"I think that Tai should go. He is the leader and the strongest of us all."

Surprisingly to all, Taichi shook his head. "No, Jou, being the leader is Davis' responsibility now. Someone strong should go, but they don't necessarily have to be the strongest of all."

"Then Matt would probably be the best choice, right?" Sora piped in, clinging onto her husband's arm tightly.

"I wouldn't want to leave you though. I mean, we have a family. What if I got killed?"

In the background Taichi rolled his eyes and spat, but all were too busy looking away from the swooning couple to see.

"What about Miyako? Or Mimi?"

"Well," Taichi hissed, "those are the only choices left, aren't they?"

"Iori."

Everyone coughed simultaneously and averted their eyes. No way Iori was going.

"Very interesting," Jenai said from his perch, "that you should pick one of your weakest. Actually, I take that back, because Miyako isn't very weak. In fact, if you give me those two to chose from, I would choose… ah, Mimi."

"Mimi!" cried the entire group, surprised at Jenai's reaction when they had only been kidding not a moment before.

"Me!" Mimi shouted, "but I'm just no good at those fights and all!"

"Perhaps, but that's what Daisuki and Takeru are for. You, my dear, are for spirit."

"Spirit? What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll understand in due time. Do you accept or not?"

Mimi looked back and forth between everyone, caught like gum in hair. Ultimately she slumped her shoulders and gave in to the tenebrous eyes. 

"Alright, I'll go, but those boys better promise to not get me killed!"   

"They will," Jenai promised solemnly, and then turned to Taichi, "Taichi, thank you for understanding. I was afraid that…"

"I have other things to do, Jenai, and places to be where I'm needed more."

"I see. And my thanks goes to all the rest of you, and may you wish your friends the best of luck on this mission. It is a dangerous one. Now, I must be leaving you, for I have other things to do, more people to see." He hopped down from the rock and was already disappearing when Daisuki grabbed his arm. 

"Wait, Mr. Jenai, you didn't tell us where to begin, or even who the target is."

"Target? Daisuki, you still have a lot to learn about war and its motives, and perhaps that is why I chose you, but all you have to know for your mission is to: follow those explosions, but be careful not to get hurt. Oh! And one more thing! Your digimon!"

The wrinkly fingers snapped loudly in the cold silence; even the explosion sounds rested for a moment. Out from the circumambient trees five digimon appeared and jumped into the awaiting arms of their masters. They looked healthy and in good spirits, particularly Gatoman, who's fur was shinning from a recent brushing. War was temporarily forgotten as human and digimon embraced. Jenai smiled his crooked toothed smile and turned back to the digidestined who weren't chosen. 

"Seeing as you have no protection against this war, it would be wise to put all faith in your friends and not return to the digital world until I see that it is fit." 

Six heads nodded in unity to the evaporating old man, each head holding its own not very risible thoughts. As the last particles of Jenai dispersed into the gathering wind, the digidestined team stared off after the inexplicable explosions, experiencing unwanted deja vus. Out there, they all thought, might hold death for one or more of their friends. 

The sun was setting slowly to the east, yet the sky was still painted orange by the fire. Taichi embraced his sister affectionately, and kissed her forehead softly.

"Hikari," he whispered quietly into her ear, "be careful, and stay close to Davis, he'll protect you, I know he will." He stared at her smooth face, picturing her cherubic face as a child, and it was suddenly hard to accept her virago attitude now. He brought his hand up to touch her face, but she clasped it midway and squeezed hard. 

"Even though I have Gatoman with me, I'll take your advice to the heart, big brother."

"Good, now get this job done fast, because I'll be missing you on Earth."

She accented her agreement with head movements, and then pushed him playfully towards the portal.

"Get going, we won't take long."

And so everyone said their farewells as cheerfully as they could manage, but there still hung a doom-riddled atmosphere over their heads - it showered them with rain when they said goodbye and deprecated their spirits with hail as they hugged their friends for perhaps the last times. At the end of all the mumbling and hugs, the sun was naught but a thin ribbon of red light on the horizon, and even that was engulfed by the mingling of explosions. Jou's thin chest heaved up in a heavy sigh, and his stomach ballooned outward with the exhaling of the forbidding air. 

"I hope you guys don't come across too big of a monster out there," he murmured, actually quite convinced that they would. 

"Alright," Taichi waved his hand, "I think it's time to leave our friends to their mission. Good luck on your fights guys, and...also good luck on your finding food and water to live off of."

Daisuki gasped in morbid realization of a serious problem, but Mimi just laughed and clapped her hands. 

"Oh don't you worry about that, Tai! I brought plenty of food like I always do when we go to the digital world, so we'll be set for awhile."

"Yeah, but is it perishable?"

"Um...some is, yes, but we can just eat that first!"

"Hey, Mimi, I brought some food too that you can take along. All of it is pretty much nonperishable, so it'll last until the end. That is, unless you eat it all too fast."

"Thank you, Yolei! This will really help out a lot, I'm sure, but...does anyone have any water? I mean, I'm not sure we want to be drinking out of rivers if we're going to be following that trail of explosions, because of fall-out and all."

As everyone looked back and forth at each other, Jenai suddenly made another surprising appearance. 

"Hello again!" he cried, "I almost forgot something!"

He threw out water bottles like Santa Clause to the five digidestined, and actually laughed like jolly old Saint Nick to go along with it. 

"Yes, yes, I see you eyeing that small water bottle desperately, Daisuki, but fear not! for this is a _special _bottle, one that has a certain feature you will be most thankful for. Behold!"

He yanked out another water bottle, unscrewed the cap with one great spin, and downed the whole thing. Miraculously, the water seemed to regroup from nowhere to refill the bottle. After a mighty belch, he chugged it again, and the water came back again.

"You see!" he hiccupped, "this will be invaluable on your journey!" Then he nudged the nearest person to him and whispered, "A special gift from higher beings who thought you could use a hand, or a magical water bottle for that matter."

With another great bellow of laughter (much too cheerful for the situation ahead) he spun around and vanished. 

"Alright, then I guess that solves that problem," Koushiro mumbled, staring at the ordinary looking contraption suspiciously. 

And while the first stars of the digital world gleamed overhead, the five digidestined said goodbye one last time, and headed off on the trail of the explosions, hoping that they would lead them somewhere of importance. 

Daisuki took the lead automatically, and led them southeast, where the fire was merely a dim glow on the farthest point of the horizon. They trudged in single file for a long while, without one word spoken since the descent from the mesa. Koushiro was behind the grim leader, then Hikari, Mimi, and Takeru brought up the rear. Their digimon walked alongside of their long-absent masters, somewhat disappointed with the greeting. Still, loyalty shined brightly in their eyes as they tried to match step with the digidestined, each feeling in their hearts the sense of danger again. 

Dark smoke clouds cluttered most of the sky, resulting in a deep black night and few visible stars. The only light to guide them were the rapidly disappearing explosions, but not much light was needed for foot placement on this ground for it was barren and brown, with no living things or debris left to hinder their movement. The smell, though, was unbearable. The scent was a mixture of many things that the digidestined didn't really want to know about. It encompassed them like a thick woolen blanket, smothering their senses and thoughts with its rancid smell. Still they walked on without rest, playing 'Follow the Leader' with a silent Daisuki, who's eye was fixed on the receding light. He didn't want to lose that light, for it was their guide and only guess to the enemy, so if it disappeared completely, he would run to see it again. 

Late that night, some two hours before dawn, the latter happened.

Daisuki paused for a moment and turned back to the players in the game.

"Get ready to chase me," he said with a boyish grin, and then sprinted off into the dark.

"Davis! Come back here!"

Reluctantly, they followed suit after Mimi's startled cry. Koushiro could just see the faint outline of Daisuki and Veemon, and could only hear the heavy pounding of his feet. He knew that he wasn't an athlete, he never had been one anyway. The hours of walking had already made his legs ache terribly, and now the extra strain of running was stretching his low stamina to the limit. Slowly but surely, the two sleek figures in front of him faded totally into the night. 

Koushiro's raspy breathing ahead of her frightened Hikari as much as Daisuki's abrupt decision had. She wasn't putting her best foot forward and still she was on Koushiro's heels. Behind her she could hear Mimi's labored breathing also, and she wondered how long they could keep this up. Daisuki was in good physical form, as was Takeru, and she was alright, but Mimi and Koushiro were not all that great strength wise. She smiled as her legs carried her smoothly along, wondering if it was possible to have brains or beauty and still be fit. If it was, then there would be no use for teams, and this mission would have been done by one person. One person, her mind echoed, one person...

Ten minutes later Daisuki caught sight of an orange line far away and slowed his pace to a fast walk. He turned and walked backwards for awhile, intently watching the jogging form of Koushiro. The genius was staring at his feet and, as it looked to Daisuki, barely shuffling. Behind Koushiro he saw the rest walking a medium pace, all held up by Koushiro. He sighed and waited for the group to catch up, pondering how far they could possibly get with this (he refrained from saying 'thing') man holding them up. Now, he had the highest respect for Koushiro's brain power, but wasn't it the slightest bit possible that the man could run a mile a day or something? It was a miracle that he didn't weigh three hundred pounds by now, even if he was only twenty-eight. 

"Come on! It's going to disappear again if we don't go fast enough!"

The group reformed and walked quickly, once again with Daisuki in the lead, who continuously urged them to pick up the speed. He was regretting the extended goodbyes at the mesa (which when he looked back was hidden in the night, along with the ever-bright portal) and wasn't sure as to how they would make up the time. He felt suddenly the holes between them all, the ones that had snuck up in between days and then ripped blackness into their friendships, the absence of closeness, and he remembered how the group used to look, friendly and cheerful, and compared it to tonight's visages, which mirrored shallowness and conceitedness. When had all this happened? He shook his head slowly and forced himself to walk on without considering the matter more, and just to leave it at that. But the thought came back into his mind when glanced back and saw Hikari, wearing wrinkles on her normally smooth brow. He had the sudden want to stroke the blemishes out of the silk her face was, hold her closer and just protect her. Hadn't that always dominated his thoughts a few years ago? How could he have forgotten how he had felt about her? He whipped his face back around to the front and steadied his gaze to the orange in the sky. Hikari... The old feelings were coming back now in full force, ones he had buried so long ago when he had moved on. Yet even after that milestone she had smelled so sweet when close, felt so perfect when they accidentally touched each other... His heart throbbed painfully against the memories, the ones involving Takeru. Takeru. That one person that had always stood between him and Hikari, was – wait, what was he talking about? Takeru wasn't some evil person, he was his friend. Friend, yeah.    

Morning dawned hazy and clouded, threatening to pour rain on them if they made the slightest move. Maybe feeling the morning's malcontent, they sat down on the dead earth and had their first breakfast of the journey. The foul smell still lingered and would have turned off their hunger if the food hadn't looked so tempting. The food was a nice link to the society that was but a day old in their hearts, and they took each bite with a slow thoughtfulness, wondering when that society would become fresh again. With full stomachs conversation seemed possible, but they spoke in whispers, secretly afraid of disturbing the silence around them.

"I wonder why Tai didn't come," Mimi said after a lull in the voices. Hikari stuffed her face with another rice ball and smiled at Mimi. 

"He'd have to stay behind to tell all the people who want to come here that the digital world is temporarily…down, if that's the correct word."

"Still, he was a really great leader. I just feel safer when he's around."

"Yeah, so do I."

Hikari caught Daisuki's eye and held it for a moment, thinking of her brother's words. Daisuki was very much like Taichi, but the feeling she got just wasn't the same. It was the feeling of a complete stranger mentally undressing you that she got with Daisuki, but just not as bad. He flashed a carefree smile at her, but the imbroglio in his eyes was a weaving of concern and hard thoughts, born during last night's march. But that's just part of becoming a true leader, she thought.

They packed the remaining food and set off at a quick pace, for Daisuki was determined to gain on the faster moving explosions. No breath was spared in favor of talking all that day, they did not stop for lunch and it was not questioned that they didn't stop, they just kept walking. Their water bottles were drained and refilled numerous times, but remarkably no one needed to go to the bathroom in the span of time from breakfast, to when they finally stopped for dinner. 

An exhausted group of people and their digimon fell upon the dirt as soon as Daisuki stopped moving. He looked over his shoulder disapprovingly, but acceded that they could rest here tonight. Besides, he added, they were as close as he wanted to get to the explosions. 

Mimi sat back dejectedly after half-heartedly digging through a bag for food. Her stomach churned and complained just at the notion of eating and it was all because of the putrid smell surrounding them.

"I think I'm going to hurl," Koushiro moaned, clutching his midsection tightly. 

"Please don't," said the lackadaisical Takeru, but he averted his eyes just in case the message didn't get across. 

"Why does it smell so _bad_?" 

"Because digimon probably died here, Mimi. Burned up like that." Davis snapped his fingers and scowled. 

"That's terrible!" she cried, and clung grimly to Palmon.

"I wonder," said Takeru, "if our digimon will digivolve the same way like they always did. Do you want to try it, Patomon?"

The adorable digimon shook his head and explained quietly that he had 'no one to fight right now'.

"You could fight Veemon," Daisuki offered, "yeah, and then whoever wins gets something special, like a gas mask or something."

"Funny, Davis, funny. But that's just a waste of energy, so no."

"I was just kidding, you don't have to get so defensive all the time."

"All the time? I haven't seen you in months!"

Oh that's right, Daisuki mused, I was probably thinking about the old days. Funny how I don't feel this old…

"Sorry, I'm not sure what got into me."

And that was certainly the truth. They were all adults now, and adults didn't fight about stupid, nugatory stuff like digimon and Hikari. Well, maybe the latter was worth it, but maybe a fight wouldn't ensue for her attention.

The camp turned deadly silent after that outbreak and stayed quiet until Daisuki noticed that the whole lot of them were asleep, himself included. He started awake and chanced a glance at the sky. The sun was already above their heads and red-orange blasts could not be seen in any direction. He tried to push himself off the ground, but his arms were surprisingly limp yet ridged. His legs were in the same condition, even down to his smallest toe. He moved his eyes this way and that to try and get a look at his friends, but they were either gone or out of his viewing range. Then he noticed that the ground under him was no longer brown and cracked, but composed of cobbled stones, fastened together by some gray mortar. And on top of that, the sky above him was laced through with metal bars. Wait, that wasn't right, it must've been some sort of window…room…cell?

The last word made his heart struggled up into his throat and stay there, pumping, pumping, worrying, worrying. What had happened? When had they (or he) gotten here? He struggled hopelessly against his invisible bonds, alone and frightened in a small cell.


	2. Chapter Two

**The Footsteps are Fading**

Chapter Two

Taichi spun in circles on his swivel chair. He had just locked the doors of his travel agency business (an agency for travel to the digital world) against the crowds outside, who were now screaming and pounding on his windows. One might say that it was bad for business (his ignoring the crowd), but there was no other digital world travel agency anyway. Taichi closed the blinds, turned up some music louder, and started to spin around again. 

He wasn't exactly thinking of anything in particular. His thoughts would wander aimlessly down the rooms of this building (which served as his home too), then to Sora and Matt's house (which he was very familiar with), and back to his old apartment with his family. His parents were dead now, all he had left was Hikari, and even she was on a suicidal mission. He didn't have any family; all he had was this business and his friends. Oh, and his own personal gym in the back of the building. He had just decided to head back that way when he heard a familiar shouting outside. He carefully opened the door, fended off some angry people who were wondering what was happening to their digimon, and let Sora in. 

She beamed up at him in awe of his keen recognition, and slid past gracefully with her compact Japanese body. She was amazingly slim in light of having four children, and Taichi found himself wishing time and time again that he had been blessed enough to have been her husband. He had always felt so close to her, almost as close as Hikari was to his heart, but for some reason she had chosen Yamato. Ah well, those things were well in the past by now. He turned the music down and turned to the "one who had gotten away." 

"How'd you find the time to get away from the kids?"

"I told them that their favorite uncle could come over for awhile if they behaved for their father. They rarely do, so I had to bribe them."

Taichi grinned at her boldness, for her kids' "favorite uncle" was none other than himself.

"Well, that's awful nice of you to invite me to see your kids, but I sort of had some plans."

"Like? You never have plans! Which still amazes me; Tai, you should really start dating someone. It's not like no one likes you. Your one of the hottest, I mean, nicest guys ever."

"Ah, I'm just waiting for that special someone I guess."

"Haven't found her?"

"I wouldn't say that," he trailed off meaningfully, but a deaf stranger could probably guess that he was talking about her.

She changed the subject rather abruptly, dragging him into a conversation that neither of them wanted to really talk about but felt obliged to. 

"So what'd you really come to see me for?" Taichi asked suddenly. She sat down on his swivel chair and spun around in it once or twice and then dragged her sneaker-clad feet to a stop. Her subfusc eyes raised up to his questionably, and then fell back to the carpet.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean: why – did – you – come – to – see – me? There has to be some reason that you fought the crowds for."

"Well…Tai, I just wanted to…wanted to be with you I guess. I just felt bad after all that digital world stuff and… well, you being around always comforts me. That's why."

He fought the strong urge to sprint over and hug her small body to his, stroke her hair and mollify all her worries. Instead, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.     

"Oh, yeah, that stuff."

The words sounded bland, nonchalant, which was exactly the effect that the master of being nonchalant had desired. He caught Sora raising her eyebrows in a manner of "whatever you say, lump of coal for a heart man", but felt no shame. He was certainly not obligated to disclose any of his thoughts to her, and yet here she sat, opening her heart and worries to him, not relying on her husband, but him, a long trusted friend. Long, that was an understatement by a mile. 

"Should I go?" his guest asked rather sharply, and he forgot in a flash that matched the beat to the background music just what his façade should accomplish. 

"No, no, please don't; I didn't mean to sound like that. Well, you know me, I just…don't like to show those things."

There was an awkward silence, in which Sora nodded her head politely and pushed back into the raging and foaming sea of the crowd outside. Her children did not get to see their favorite uncle as promised that night or any other night that whole week. There was an unsaid and uncomfortable feeling burning once sturdy bridges in their relationship down into an evil chasm below, a chasm that resounded so curtly with Yamato's spirit. 

That sweet rapport which had been in their grasps for more than twenty years was losing its empathy, showing its raw and meager sidings, turning this way and that in their now loose fingers, and soon, oh so painfully soon, it was sure to slip. Then where would it head? Or was it some sort of backwards virus: killing its host by leaving it after such a long and soothing stay. A virus that had no other meaning but to kill without thought, for it couldn't think, one of the worst of the prokaryote type. The viruses' victim scraped down unto the floor, ripping at the carpet mindlessly. Echoing in his mind were the shouts and curses from outside, mingled mercilessly with Sora's polite yet sour nod. Why would such a thing be created to harm one so much! He cursed and loathed that twisted virus, taking an oath to meet it one day in hell. 

Twenty and one belly rumblings from the time he woke up, Daisuki laughed at the open ceiling. It laughed back at him too, somehow knowing what his little joke was. You and me, it laughed, will be good buddies for some time to come. The smaller of the buddies gagged and retched at this silent response, and then spit precious saliva onto the floor, where it soon evaporated in a sizzle of steam. 

It was ghastly hot. In the sky above only one star took witness to his happenings, and perhaps this was the one and the same that laughed at him, and perhaps it wasn't. In the hours or days or years following his waking, everything had seemed to personify itself, and all of his new buddies were laughing viciously at his predicament. He would have shaken a rueful fist at them, had the scratchy snakes wrapped around his wrists not bitten in so hard. 

The shiny buddy way up high was painting his cheek and other exposed limbs with its special red fire paint. At every crease and relaxation of his muscles the paint stung more, until he was reduced to (not by choice) crying hot tears down onto the floor, where they immediately (if not before touching the stones) were wisped away on the rising heat. 

His fingers were swollen purple with trapped blood, and even puffier with the inhumane heat. He laughed again, though, his cracked lips parting to release that wheezing sound, remembering with giddiness that he had forsaken all thoughts of being rescued from his mind. Then he heard the door cringe open.

"Hey, Davis? Are you in there?"

Of course I'm in here, can you not see me in this glaring sunlight? he shouted back to the intruder. 

"Davis? Are you okay?"

Of course I am, now won't you leave me alone to play some more with all these wonderful snakes?

"Davis, there are no snakes in here with you. Look, I'm going to untie you, but I need you to be quieter, because…"

The bouncing sound of footsteps reached both of their ears almost at the same time, and Daisuki's rescuer/intruder closed the door in a hurry and dived under some limp straw in the corner. 

There was no jangle of keys, only a gruff voice that sounded stout and at the same time reflected the image of its owner as being one of great stature. 

"Hello little prisoner? Who might you be talking to?"

The sun, the heat, and my spit, the little prisoner replied.

"Is that so? Do they speak back in your state, or do they see you as less than worthy of that grace?"

Less than disgraced, I suppose.

"Now that doesn't make much sense, so _I_ suppose as  to give you some water, at the least."

The little prisoner would be much appreciative. 

Then the keys jangled their fine yet shrill tune and the grating of the door was soon to join the ballad. In from the hallway came a sudden, apprehensive air and the gruff, stout, and tall voice spoke again.

"Did you open your door?"

Does it look like I could, was the prisoner's dry reply.

So the voice took it as a sign of guards that were anything but sedulous and huffed off towards somewhere, perhaps to chastise those careless guards, and left in such a hurry that the promised water never reached Daisuki's mouth.  

"Davis," the intruder whispered again, "he left the door open, so let's hurry."

Pale hands grabbed his shoulders, but jumped back in quick reaction as Daisuki hollered in pain. Takeru, who was in fact the savior, looked down onto Daisuki's arm and saw a rapidly disappearing silhouette of his hand outlined in the burnt red skin of the little prisoner. Wait, little?

He took a double take on Daisuki's features and gaped openly in stupidity at his appearance. The man had shed off at least ten years! Bemused, he rubbed the back of his neck, and was just as nearly surprised at the slim feel of it. He looked down at his hands, which sure enough were that once familiar scene of weakness. No veins popped out at him, no knuckles looked out of place, it was all smooth and soft, and not to mention frightfully pale. And when he blinked, they returned to the hands of a man who has felt twenty five years.

Thundering footsteps rampaged down the hallway in response to the scream, followed quickly by the owner of the stout, tall voice poking his head into the doorway. His red, round face became redder at the sight of Takeru kneeling by the prisoner who wasn't little anymore, veins and eyes bulged in that visage of horror and his teeth grinded together with an unholy grating sound that knocked any spirit out of Takeru at all. Then the voice dashed up at an upsetting fast pace and knocked Takeru on the back of his broad neck, and he fell into a deep slumber at once, right onto Daisuki's red pain paint. He howled again for his sinister buddies to recognize the pain, but was caught halfway in between breaths by the voice's small but plump hand. He looked up, in terrifying dreamland, into the large, protruding eyes of the voice, and fainted clean away from fright as the voice rolled his eyes in either direction at the same time and laughed his putrid laugh. 

"Davis, Davis. T.K., T.K. Are either of you conscious?"

"What is it?"

"It seems that a specific one of us is to be immolated."

"You don't say? To some sort of god?"

"Inanition, my dear Davis, is not always a positive thing to possess while others depend upon your judgment and _care_."    

"Apologies."

"Silence!" shouted a robustious voice, and all humming of the crowd ceased. "We are here to lick these people to death!"

There was much roaring of cheerfulness from the bloodthirsty crowd below their heightened stand point, and Daisuki passed a questioning glance at Koushiro. 

"In the sense of flames," he whispered, with a little bit of a smile. 

"Now," continued the speaker, "let the One choose who is to be licked first."

Daisuki would have snickered at the expression but for the dead serious faces of his friends. He observed them, wondering how many days it had been since they had seen each other. They seemed to be fine physically, but on their foreheads was a novel of worries, bound in hard leather casings by the heart wrenching look in their eyes. Then a guard next to him prodded his still crimson limbs and indicated that he should be attentive in the severest manner to the "One". 

The One did not appear. The crowd stood silent, on edge, with all heads and limbs entangled in a mass of expectancy and awe. The guards and other higher peoples stood just as dutiful, staring at nothing in particular. 

"I am in hopes this apparition does not appear," Koushiro whispered to Daisuki.

Another guard prodded him as well and growled down to him:

"Your verbiage is most annoying."

The others, as it was, were most intrigued by the votaries of the "One", and looked on in amazement at their composure, and patience. Certainly these quick events would send the teams' heads spinning, but as of now they were relatively calm and warmed up to the idea of their demise, which seemed duly inevitably. So they sat on their haunches, looking also to nowhere, and awaited the arrival of this mystic, if it was called so. They were left waiting for some time after that. 

 The mob outside soon dispersed and went off in different directions in search of another soul to harass, leaving the dejected ex-digidestined leader to his depression. He half listened to the music, but even its soothing melodies didn't register very well in his scattered mind. Only Sora predominated his mind's wandering, but it wasn't her usual shining face, but a sad and rejecting profile. Sora, he thought, tugging at his heart strings, when did we become like this?

On the almost muted radio the D.J. struck up a new tune, and it drifted slowly through the small office in a cheerless meander, singing like fingertips sliding over polished wood:

_Zankoku na tenshi no you ni, shounen yo shinwa ni nare…_

The rising voice of the female resounded in his ears, and it felt like his mother whispering once again all those worthless but encouraging whispers. 

_Aoi kaze ga ima, mune no doa wo tataite mo. Watashi dake wo, tada mitsumete, hohoende'ru anata…_

He smiled at these lines, beginning to hear his own story reflected in the words. Yes, change was here, but he was blatantly ignoring its knock.

_Sotto fureru mono, motomeru koto ni muchuu de. Unmei sae  mada shiranai, itaiki na hitomi…_

That wasn't exactly true for him though; he was not really intent on finding anything right now. Or was it inferring something more…

_Dakedo itsuka kidzuku deshou sono senaka ni wa. Haruka mirai mezasu tame no hane ga aru koto…_

Far…off…future? To Taichi that future seemed to always be right in front of him, an opponent who constantly snickered and slapped him time and time again, just inches out of his reach. And as for his back…well, nothing seemed to be sprouting out of it as of late, especially not wings. 

_Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze_

But who needed wings?

_Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu_

Certainly not someone who could have everything.

_Hotobashiru atsui patosu de_

All he had to do was try harder, not let all of this walk over him.

_Omoide wo uragiru nara_

He had potential, and not just for any job, but for everything.

_Shounen yo shinwa ni nare!_

Yeah, he just needed to try…

He rose decisively with his fist clenched tight at this sudden burst of self-endorsement, and was splayed flat onto the ground again when a body fell heavily on top of his head. There was a shooting pain up and down his spine (which never quite felt the same again) followed by not being able to respire. He gasped and wheezed in precious air as he pushed the body off of him, taking a quick and unhappy notice of the giant hole in his ceiling. 

"Jeez," mumbled the man rubbing his neck and back, "how the heck did a person make that hole?"

After casting another disapproving glance at the capacious gap above him, which was spitting out plaster like a sick mother, he focused on the body lying next to him. Fortunately the person did not look dead or seriously injured, so he moved a vigilant hand towards the body, reassured that he wouldn't be suspected of killing this mysterious person. His fingertips touched the soft facial skin and pictured a time of happiness, completeness, and freedom. Everything flashed brilliantly in the dark room and the pale skin glowed with a new inner heat. Taichi retracted his hand quickly as the body shivered and rose to its feet, displaying short golden hair and a feminine build. She glided to face him, her so smooth face the picture of emptiness and her golden eyes paintings of pain. 

"He…he…hello," Taichi finally managed to spit out. Her expression changed little, but the slight fluctuation on her brow conveyed such a deep meaning; it was surely an explanation. He asserted that he understood her movements and…

_Hello_. The sound crept out of the music around them and wound its way to his ears. It did not hurry to get to him though: it curved under his desk, through the window panes, and then into his sensitive hearing. When it got to him it had traveled many miles and related these miles and the hopes of more to the listener, who listened intently to this silent communication. Only when the voice flew to him again did he realized it was from the girl in front of him who was half his height but twice his age. The message was finally creeping into his mind with prevailing vim when the woman began slipping around the room. Her pale feet did little more than brush the floor, trailing a sweet scent of lilies in the springtime, but with an underlying odor of their decay in a dry summer. She turned back to him after her expedition throughout the tiny space and spoke slowly to him, this time using her real voice. The sound of it was not as silky as the first, for it seemed riddled with questions and more questions, and a never-ending thirst for something.

"Where did I come from."

Taichi's throat had a mysterious something logged in it so he merely pointed up to the hole, which she stared at for a minute, contemplating its existence and its affect on her being.

"No," she sang again, "where did I come from?"

Again all he could do was point at the hole in silent awe, even though he wished dearly to provide her with a better answer. Her beauty wrapped him in its aura and pressured him to tell more, but he could not, and suddenly fear for his life began rising against that something in his throat. 

Calmly, she drifted through the other rooms in the building in a silent storm of thoughts, leaving him to watch her wake. When she did not appear again he stood up tensely, and preformed his own scooping out of the rooms, which ended with him baffled about the pastel girl's appearance and disappearance. 

Daisuki let out a sudden screech of pain that sent the whole crowd shuddering. Heads craned in his direction, covered with smiles and glinting eyes of secret knowledge. 

"Izzy!" the victim screamed, "help me!"

But the plea fell upon silent eardrums, while drums in the background covered up all sound. Their boom and hollow yell poured liquid fear into Daisuki's mouth, until he collapsed to the floor, coughing up the fear in great heaves of inside muscles. Just over the din of the voices he could hear: "The one has chosen!" and directly after that horrifying statement flames leaped into the air next to him, connected to no ground whatsoever. Their white heat lashed out at his red body in zealous confliction, flattening him to the ground in a sudden burst of hate. He could feel all hairs on his limbs curl and fall off in one instant, soon followed by an overpowering smell of…wasabi?

Easing his eyelids open, he found a scene, not bright with flames, but voluptuous and verdant. Happy sounds greeted his once charred ears and he caught himself wondering if he had woken up from a terrible nightmare in a place he didn't know. Here all the birds sang in unison with the sprite wind, creating the lasting effect of peace, prosperity, and all other things that humans have at the top of their 'To Accomplish' lists. The wind was coaxing him to close his eyes and rest, but there was no reassurance present that this would be here when he awoke; in fact, he was quite sure it would be gone. So he fought a losing battle against the peace, but finally drooped into a happy slumber.   

When he woke up a soft hand was stroking his brow, its pale color in sharp contrast with the still green area. He could hear the wind whispering again through the trees and he felt the homely shawl of happiness encompass him until he sighed into the folds of sleep for the second time. The hand continued to caress his forehead with daisy light fingertips, tickling here and there with a silky embrace on every cell. His dreams were carefree and when he looked up in them the sun was silently moving back and forth back and forward. Then it would morph into that flower hand and confirm his existence time and time again. His sighs were deep and pleasurable, and the nagging thought of the real world drifted away away and then finally snuggled down for a nice rest. 

Outside of his happiness, the world was winding down the spiral of chaos, flicking beast off on its descent. His friends were rolling with the boulder, slipping into an undefined state of confusion, hate, and fear. The end of the spiral was at their feet now, when they were abruptly stalled by a woman on the path. She refused to budge under any pressure; she simply just held out her hand in a gesture that suggested stopping, as they soon did. Then the spiral gave way to a new light, becoming nothing more than a faded memory as its captives relished in the sudden but welcomed warmth. The woman extended her arms to the digidestined, a kind smile playing about her pale lips, and they heard in the distant background the groaning of their dying captors. When they reached the coruscate woman, they felt the solid ground beneath them poof into oblivion at her eyes, the spiral melt completely away in her mercy, and they just managed to catch a glance at her figure and found themselves all thinking the same words: "So pale…".

It was a bright morning when they awoke, some days later after the incident and far from the position of it, ravenous and disoriented. They found Daisuki lying awkwardly on his side, his breathing shallow and his body still tender. The confreres sat around in a circle, staring dumbly at each other and blinking and squinting at the demanding sunlight. A few words passed between the group, but were found meager and meaningless, so Mimi suggested eating something. That hell-bound smell was gone from the air, and what better thing to do then but eat and have an excuse to not try and decipher what had just occurred. As they ate their rations (which were considerably smaller seeing as the perishable food had gone bad some days before) Daisuki stirred from his slumber, blinked at the sky, and then blinked at his friends. 

"Hello," he tried, but he could not find the strength to project it farther than his elbows. He observed them eating for some while, taking mental notes of their lack of manners and new tan lines, until he crawled to their circle and was handed food without a comment. He stared at it in disgust, then at them in the same contempt. 

"What _are_ you doing?" projected the cracked voice, and they all raised their eyes to him in feigned surprise. "What are you doing? Don't you…don't you…" but he trailed off without continuing his invigorating speech, and set about devouring the food. All went back to their own vittles, with little dust of care flurried by their leader's attempts. Finally Mimi remembered Jenai's words to her.

"What are we doing!" she cried, "Just look at us! We should have finished this by now and we haven't even found the culprit! Why aren't we talking about all of this? Who was that girl, those savages we met, those prisons we were kept in, and where do we go from here? And why isn't Davis dead? Didn't we all see him get swallowed by flames?"

All eyes turned to the man in question in a sort of accusing manner, and then back to Mimi when she stated dully: 

"And where are our digimon?"

There was a dead silence and all tired eyes roved about the bivouac, not really surprised at finding their digimon missing. Why should they be there when everything else was so vehemently _not_ in their favor. 

"Why don't we just leave fate alone and go back home?"

Sadly, Koushiro's bland statement was considered by most of the team very thoroughly. And what's sadder is the same words were on the tips of their lips when Daisuki jumped up and smacked them all on the backs of their heads, especially Koushiro.

"What's gotten in to all of you! The digital world has been a part of our lives for more than ten years, and you just want to abandon it?" There were guilty nods all around. "WHAT! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" He stared at Mimi and she stared back; apparently they were the only two left who wanted to go on. How disgusting. "How disgusting," he repeated and had half a mind to shriek on but decided against it. It was no loss to him, he could go on at any pace now if he could convince Mimi into going back home. Yes, his mind whispered in a conniving way, if I can get her away from here, prove I can finish this by myself…

A sound like cracking whips echoed across the sky in booms that made the earth tremble so much that Daisuki fell to his knees. The ground shuddered violently again as a second clap deafened them. Daisuki stared at his knees nonchalantly, stared at the worn holes in the pants and couldn't remember when they had gotten there. Had they been like this before setting out? The mesa seemed like eons ago, their friends younger and without much care for any future events. And what had Taichi said to him? What had it been? War is not about winning? The rest of his words were blurred and sketchy, as was his face, and the statement alone didn't make much sense at all. How could war not be about winning? Was it about death? Was that all? 

He scrunched his fingers up into his sweaty palms, trying to remember those last words…

Something about children… 


	3. Chapter Three

"The present moment is in your power, but the past is inalterable, the future is inscrutable."

                                    - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Footsteps are Fading 

**Chapter Two**

There had often been a distinct line seperating right and wrong in Sora's mind. Every night she sat at home with her children and husband, and every night she stood on the right side of that line. And tonight she stood at the kitchen sink, washing up tonight's dinner plates and thinking about what to make tomorrow to sustain her family. Then slowly, slowly the plate slid from her soft fingers into the bubbly sea below, creating a small 'plunk' that sang with Sora's sigh. Maybe she was living her life in the right way, but did it always have to be so boring? 

She tried remembering all of her girlfriends from high school, and could not think of one that hadn't gotten married and settled down to a lifetime of cook dinner, clean plates, cook dinner, clean plates and so on. But this ruotine wasn't hers, was it? She had the digital world…

Her hand paused from retriving the lost plate. No she didn't. Not anymore. That haven wasn't a secret anymore. It was more like a treehouse just for you and a few other someones who had built it by hand, but in the end that treehouse had been discovered and, what do you know, others wanted in on the fun, too. Panges of bitterness and possesiveness snapped at her heart as she relived those days of quiet afternoon picnics being ruined by the odd traversing stranger. Sure, it had been a smile and a wave then, but they didn't really belong there. No, the digital world could never truly be…

She watched Yamato's profile reflect in the pan to her right. Forgetting to stop ranting in her head, she sighed openly and picked up the soapy plate from the cloudy water. She shuddered at what might live down there. 

"Hey, what's wrong babe?"

"Hm? Nothing, why?" Eh-ver-re-thing, she sang happily in her head.

"Nothing! You just zoned out for a whole five minutes!"

Oh sorry, she spat inwardly, let me finish washing your dishes before I have time to think.

"Oh it's nothing, don't worry. Just thinking about those guys in the digital world."

"Oh, yeah, them." There was a long pause in which Sora had time to remmeber just how alike Taichi's statement was to that. "How long have they been gone now? Two weeks?"

She turned joltingly to stare him in the eye. "Matt," she whispered, "your own brother is out there."

"Yeah, but he can take good care of himself."

He kissed her without much love and then walked upstairs to his office, where he typed away half of the night. When she was in bed, staring at the clock that screamed in blood to her 'one fifteen!', he slipped in next to her. She closed her eyes against the clock, missing the days when he would embrace and love her in the night. When had he lost interest? Tears blurred the darkness of her eyelids, withstanding the silent cursing by their creator. What did tears matter if nothing caught his attention.

The digital world slept in silent peace that night, spreading a dark blanket over the dead and the dying, the wonder and the wondering, until all noise was muffled under its heavy sheets.

Takeru stood looking up at the few stars left in the sky. His imagination whispered that they had fallen out of the sky with those booms yesterday, and reality mumbled dejectedly that, 'they were only covered in clouds'.

All the same only five from the numerous stars blinked at him in curiosity, and then laughed among themsleves of his insignificence. He growled at them, passed into submission, and looked at his sleeping friends. Friends…were they still that to him? He supposed friendship didn't really matter at this point in his life, only that primitve necesity to communicate and reproduce drove humans in this age. Sad how that had been driving him not but five years ago. Had he really aged at all? 

He focused the stars into his vision again and listened to the breathing of those around him. Ah, Hikari's was barely audible…Faint and delicate it tickled his ears, but even fainter was that of Daisuke's breath. Davis…

Moody clouds frowned at them as they woke in their trancelike stages. They found Daisuke plagued by the drooping mouth as well, and all in all borrowed the cynical ideology for the remainder of the day. That day – nothing really happened worth mentioning, save the decision to move in a direction, some direction. So they trudged onward to that someplace where they might find their elusive foe, draining their water bottles again and again, not eating anything but their own hard thoughts. It was midday of the next day before Koushiro stopped walking.

He just stopped. There was no complaining or sinking to the ground; he just stopped. The others stood next to him, knawing on their confidences and not-so-extravagent ideas. He was hungry, they all were. They had not slept all last night for they were so intent upon finding their enemy, or their digimon, or perhaps they just could not stand still in the fear that the one idea they were mentally running from would catch up with them and finish them for sure. What one idea? The one idea that they were finished even before they had the chance of fighting. But as they stood there, staring, vittles-starved, dejected people, that one haunting idea swooped from their own scowling cloud that had accumulated above their heads and drenched them to the marrow in cold fear. They had lost at a terribly frightening cost. They were starving to death with bountiful food in their packs, not exactly caring that this could possibly be the end of them and the digital world, if this enemy was so grand. 

Then Koushiro sat down upon the dead soil, cradling a dead pack, wearing dead skin, and thinking dead thoughts. Deceased, he moaned to himself, deceased and I have not discovered my true meaning here. After this drastic epiphany he crossed his legs and sputtered out random syllables, remembering that one odd moment of discovering Hinduism in a book. He asked himself the three questions then, the ones that slapped reality in the face and laughed atrociously.

_What is the meaning of life? What am I? What is the nature of the Divine? _

For better or worse he never got to answer them.

Out from the sky a dolphin fell, landed on its back and flashed a stomach emblazoned with the sideways eight of eternity. Almost instantaneously the digidestined passed out from oxygen-poor blood. 

An unsettling feeling had crept into Taichi's dreams that night, one that recalled the woman and her sweet smell. Her radiant aura captured and enthralled his soul, then shook it like a fragile baby, from the shoulders…from the shoulders…

Next she appeared to be skating, and she beckoned to him with soft hands to follow her in the curving pattern that –

He gazed down at his feet. Where they had been a gentle stream of light smiled up at him. He smiled down at it, for he had seen too few smiles these past weeks. Now that he thought of it, it had only been him, the angry customers, and his weights. He needed to get out more.

The light asserted his pondering smoothly, and somehow he knew that the woman had nodded, though he had not looked up. He could sense her short hair, though, choppy like Sora's, yet layered so carefully that she was beautiful. Yeah…beautiful…

The dream faded calmly away, leaving him lying on top of the covers on his bed, staring up at the bumpy ceiling. His broad chest heaved up and then down in a contented sigh. His eyes in the darkness were a murky brown, distant yet not confused. For he knew, after that dream, that the woman was to be with him forever, in body or soul. Forever…now he finally had someone to share this life with, someone who could laugh and play with him in the darkness of the bedroom. If this was all that he needed, why had it taken so long for this woman to show herself? 

He rolled over onto his side and looked out of the window. Outside the world was just awakening with fresh touches of sun and cloud; the birds danced happily on the building over there to his left and the cats howled up to them in good fun. There was a pressing feeling to shut the blinds tight, stay in bed, and simply lay there. No, no, his mind groaned, there was too much to be done. 

_Like?_

He shot up in bed, his heart beating abnormally fast. He hadn't said that. His eyes paned the newly illuminated room suspiciously. He had not said that. 

Still, he could see nothing out of place save he was wearing his clothes and his shoes were tied tightly on his feet. He dragged them slowly from the side of the bed and tucked them under his legs. Fear, something that had not been real to him for quite a while, was sitting next to him, breathing down his neck in hot blasts. This room, the one he had been sleeping in for years now, had a new smell and feel about it now, one of danger. His jumpy instincts hollered and screeched at him to get up and bolt, out of the window if necessary, but he sat stock still, trying to not breath at all. Over there! His head whipped in the direction of the shadow, but he instantly felt something move behind him. So he snapped his head back to its former position, in a way that allowed him almost a full vision of the room. But what about what he couldn't see? His skin crawled desperately at the fear of those shadows in every corner, and yet the want of closing the blinds was persistently pecking at his courage. Then everything relaxed.

He shoulders dropped, his fists unclenched, and his forehead ridded itself of unwelcome wrinkles. He let his breathing regulate, let his knees move freely, and let out his breath in one great sigh. Ah, there had been nothing to be afraid of.

Further along in the day he unconsciously steered clear of the bedroom, and when the reality of sleep began forming he made a quick dash to his phone to call some buddies, see if they wanted to go out to a bar tonight. Only one relented to his pestering.

"Tai man, I've never seen you so uptight before!" Roushi exclaimed as they sat down on parallel barstools. Roushi ordered two beers, but Taichi refused.

"Oh, I just needed to get away from the angry mob on my doorstep, that's all."

"Are they still after you? Jeez, you'd figure that they'd give up by now."

Actually, no one stood on his doorstep anymore. The path in a wide radius from that door was well beaten, though, so that accounted for something, right? Taichi studied his hands, picked a pesky hang nail, and accosted that it did have some meaning, but maybe not the vim of being able to back up a flat lie. 

"Well, they're not really there anymore, I just needed to get away from…the…_presence_ that they left behind."

Roushi put his drink on the table and looked over meaningfully at Taichi. There was a little regret in Taichi's mind for not talking to a really close friend on this matter, but Roushi was somewhat notorious for good advice.

"I think there's a ghost in my house."

Roushi's eyebrows arched high up, and his cheeks uplifted in mirth.

"A ghost! Well, haven't you ever seen Ghostbusters? Those things are darn easy to get rid of! Darn easy!" Then he doubled over laughing, banging his hand on the bar.

"No, no, that didn't come out right, sorry."

Sorry? Taichi's mind was ringing with what had just happened, the looks that were being shot at Roushi's incessant pounding, and with the own words he had spoken. A ghost? Surely that's not what he really thought! But it was, he realized, and the very thought of how pale that girl had been frightened him even more. When had he become such a coward?

_You didn't go with them because of that._

Reality slowed down at that notion, that notion that had come straight out of the bar's walls, out of Roushi's open mouth, out of the beer bottle that was bouncing up and down, out of…his own soul.

He had to make amends.

The woman that had so frightened Taichi was sitting rather nonchalantly on the ground, picking at some stubborn blades of grass. They were withered and brown, yet their roots were still deep and penetrating. These she ripped from the unproductive soil, remembering how this place had once been the receiver of alluvial dirt. Why, the river that had deposited all of that wondrous thing was just over there, choking with pollution. A grim smile sneaked upon her ghostly face. This was going to be _so_ much fun.

Remaining blades protested wearily under her feet as she stood, digging a good heel into the ground. Over across the river she could see Those People. She frowned. They had no idea what they were up against, or where they were supposed to go. What would they do if she walked over to them and whispered quietly in one of their ears: "Nowhere."

She brushed a teasing hair away from her eyes, but it fell back out of order. Soon…Soon she would make her move, but for now she was content to mill around the river's banks, watching Those People. 

A wet nudging pain prodded continuously in Koushiro's side. He made to bat at it, found he had no strength to do so, then relented to its pestering. Perhaps he had enough spirit in him to at least open one eye…

He shut it quickly. 

No, no…no no no no no. That couldn't…couldn't…  

No, he would just stay inside of this blackness for now. Ah, sweet blackness that covered up all other unwanted images. Then he felt it nudge again. Again. Again with that horrendous wet touch. No, no, he sang, not opening my eyes, I do not want to see this, I've been through way too much. But it could care less, for it kept up its prodding, prodding, prodding, until Koushiro opened both eyes in a rush of adrenalin, tried to grab at it, and then discovered his arms were bound behind him. So he lay staring at it, staring at it…

Then he tried screaming, but the gag around his mouth put an early end to that. Then squirming, but he only got closer to the object. Kicking: his legs were bound. Breathing: his throat was tight with fear. Thinking: only about getting away, only about…

It opened its eyes. Good god it was still alive. 

Its chest rose slowly, deeply, then exhaled in a slight spatter of blood. It wasn't bound, too, but…if it tried to touch him…

Subsequently the eyes looked past his own wriggling body, out into some secret space where the answers weren't too hard to find. It sighed contently, then died.

In the white noise of the background, Koushiro finally picked up familiar sounds. He could hear Daisuke quarrelling with someone, hear footsteps on hollow metal, hear the pounding of his own heart. He could not catch any words of the argument, but for some reason he didn't feel like Daisuke was particularly winning. Next he heard a smack like leathery skin on a baby's face, heard someone fall, but the rest was hidden by a loud crashing overhead. 

He chanced a look upwards and saw a large crane making its slow procession across the ceiling. Hadn't he just been outside in a desert? These abrupt changes of scenery were really getting to his nerves. 

As the crane struggled to get wherever it was headed, he imagined Daisuke and what he would be doing. He always balled his fists when he argued, slit his Japanese eyes till they were past visible, and he would lean forward at the other argue-y. Stupid Daisuke, if anyone he was usually the one to be out of any bad situations. He probably wasn't tied up like a hog and staring at a milky-eyed, twitching – 

What was this thing?

Resisting his unusual curiosity, Koushiro tired to crane his head in the argument's direction. Before his neck gave way with the effort, he caught a glimpse of light blonde hair in front of a back drop of darkness. Had it been short like Takeru's? Even given, Takeru's hair wasn't that light. Then he looked at the dead beast beside him, not so excited now that he had some perception of where he was. Why, it looks like a dolphin, he thought. And indeed it was; a bleeding, bruised dolphin, with a creamy belly and a shiny blue face. Why had it been prodding him?

His heart sank with the premonition of knowing the dolphin had been kind. Even in the glazed eyes there was still a look of benevolence and compassion. What monster would have killed this beautiful creature? His eyes drifted down onto the dolphin's belly again and this time caught the sign of eternity. It was a color like blood, like blood that was being washed away by rain. It even seemed to be dripping to Koushiro's tired eyes, and he would have swore on every laptop he owned that the color was oozing from the inside, though no wound was apparent. 

Then the crane stopped its journey, and he could once again hear the stentorian voices. They suddenly stopped, and there was a sound like ostentatious osculation. Then that ended, and a body thumped heavily to the left of him. A voice seemed to call to his visitor: "Hope you don't forget!", then there was a light padding of footsteps, and then they faded away. 

That was when Koushiro realized he no longer had a steady grip on sanity. It was just his abrupt intuition, a scintilla reminiscent of the old days of sitting at his computer, working with C++ and C. He was not entirely positive that he could do anything of that magnitude anymore. This stupid mission! It was pummeling down all that he had worked for in his life. These stupid bonds! They were restricting his movement to thoughts only, thoughts that he did not want to think right now. He was spread thin, so thin, and if he hadn't already broken then it was sure to happen in the next few minutes. 

Something nudged his side. 

It was two thirty in the morning when Taichi started pounding on their door, and either by coincidence or fate Sora was sitting in the kitchen in a tenebrous mode of trepidation. 

Her mind told her body to jump in fright, and she did, then it told her to open the door, which she also did. This governing organ told her not to be surprised when she saw Taichi standing there, panting, but she just couldn't find the nonchalance to follow that command. 

"Tai!" her mouth whispered in a new and susurrus way.

"Sora, I have to get to the digital world right now! Jesus, I can't believe I let them go without me. It's all my fault if they get hurt, I have to go to them right now." He trailed off mumbling the same words until the only sound was their breathing and the wind pushing past him.

"It's windy tonight," Sora said, stepping out into the yard. She had been surprised by his appearance, but not by his reason. She had felt he was going to go since his decline of the team's urging and now all that mattered was holding onto him for a little longer. 

"I have to go."

"Yeah, sure is windy. This would be a nice night for a walk around, don't you think?"

"I don't have time, I have to leave."

"If you had wanted to go now, you wouldn't have come here. Now walk with me."

She started off down towards the gate of their property, and he reluctantly followed. They walked in silence for some time down the empty sidewalk, two best friends deprived of each other's company. Then Sora spoke.

"Have you been watching the news?"

"What?" Taichi thought about the past few days: they were filled with the pale woman and imaginings of a haunted room. "No, not lately."

"It's sad, really."

"What's that?"

"They say there have been killings."

"Of?"

"Of poor people." They walked along in silence for a moment while a lonely car snuck past, its headlights lingering on their drawn faces. Taichi shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Sora, I really-"

"Just because they don't want overpopulation."

"What?" Taichi looked at her face. It was bitter and tight.

"Because they don't want overpopulation! They're doing it in China and Java, too. That's all that the news used to be for a few days, but it was taken off suddenly and now all that the anchors talk about is how great our economy is, and how much food we have. But on the internet…on the internet you can still find listings of all the people that have been killed."

"The internet is rarely a legitimate source of information. Look, I'm sure those people just had some form of the flu, I don't think that this is some great government conspiracy here. Jeez Sora, I didn't think you were so cynical!"

He began to laugh, but she shot him a sour look.

"It's true, Tai! I swear it is!"

"Sora," he stopped and put his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled roughly away and stood in front of him.

"I got a call tonight, just an hour ago actually."

Taichi raised his eyebrow.

"My moms dead, Tai, and do you know why?" He reached out to touch her, but she jerked away sharply. "Do you know why!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered, but tears of anger were still blossoming in her eyes.

"Because this isn't the flu! You know who told me my mother was dead, Tai? Do you know!"

She was close to screeching and Taichi's head was bent down.

"Her neighbor! My mom has been dead three days, but no official reported that! None! Now tell me that something isn't going on here! Tell me that discrimination _hasn't_ taken the place of empathy and I'll tear your heart out! Oh, and don't you want to hear how she died, Tai? Well I couldn't possibly tell you because no one knows! Not even the coroner could tell me, that or he wasn't allowed to!" She stared in fury at his lowered head, panting after the outbreak. "Three days," she mumbled, "three days." Then she sat down on the pavement and cried into her fists.       


	4. Chapter Four

**The Footsteps are Fading**

Chapter Four

Out on the cold desert she walked alone in the night, making purposeful leaps to crush any grass. She wanted reform of this god-forsaken place, and here he was, the mightiest of all enemies, giving the digidestined a run for their money. The reformation she wanted was so close, it rested on her tongue, daunting and laughing at her incompetence to find the enemy. She had thought that he was close, but with experience she discovered that his presence filled every nook and cranny of the digital world. To find him would take more than pure hunting skills.

The temperature of that night had dropped to twenty degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to the high nineties it had climaxed to earlier that day. The weird climate patterns, the complete reversal of scenery: this power was surely the strongest to hit the digital world in a long time. She would have wondered how many other worlds he had destroyed before this, but she was not about wondering, more about action. Still, she snickered often at the digidestineds' loss of their digimon. He had been clever to do that.

The obdurate landscape stretched before her nimble feet, and she willingly answered its call to go.

Daisuke poked at Koushiro until he was sure that the man was ignoring him, then rolled onto his back, wincing in pain. That woman…she was strong, more like a warrior than the beauty that she looked. He did not know that the same woman was the one that Taichi had met, the one that had been stroking his head in the green garden after the fire, or that she had saved his friends from the people that had captured them so long ago. That cell seemed like months ago even though his skin was still pink and fresh, and even fuzzier in his memory was the mesa, the place they had parted at. The mesa…it was a discouraging happening, though it had not been at the time. For his life he couldn't remember any words that had been passed, and he doubted that the others could recall. 

The others were resting peacefully next to him, with their breathing light and carefree. Why was it that he was always the exception? They slept there unaware of the danger sleeping inside the room with them, while their leader was in the greatest pain of his life after being beaten and battered by a blonde haired, gorgeous virago. Amazing how invidious he suddenly was of them.

"Izzy," he prodded the man's back again, "Izzy, please, we don't really have time for this."

The man didn't answer. No, no, if he lost Koushiro to this madness then what rational mind would be left? Mimi? He was skeptical about how long she could last if the rest of them lost it.  Takeru, now there was someone who had a tight grip on reality. And Hikari, too. Yeah, he could always count on them. Come to think of it, Koushiro had never been the most mentally secure of the bunch, right? Right. 

He rolled over towards the others, gritting his teeth. All the bruises he had were dark shades of purple, and the cuts he was lucky enough to posses were deep gorges. Fighting her had been like fighting a wild bull, and it lasted about as long.

"Guys?"

Mimi, propinquity, opened one eye indolently. 

"Yeah?" her voice was hazy and thick with sleep.

"We need to get out of here."

"But it's so nice."

"Look around you!" He indicated to their surroundings, which reflected a warehouse. "That's so nice?"

She pushed off the ground with her tired hands and tried to focus her eyes.

"No, I guess not. Davis, what are we doing here? Weren't we outside? In the desert?"

"Yeah, but we all fell asleep or passed out or whatever, but that doesn't matter. What we really need to do is get going."

Then Mimi's eyes became focused and she looked at him in horror.

"Davis! What happened!"

"I'll tell you later, just wake the others up."

She nodded and carried out her duty servant-like. In a minute Takeru and Hikari were sitting on their haunches, rubbing their eyes. Koushiro still refused to get up, and Daisuke squinted at the dead dolphin laying next to him. Weird. 

"What's this all about," Takeru yawned, leaning back on his hands. The had made a little circle with Koushiro to one side and the limp dolphin far away from any one of them.

"Well, don't you think we should spend our time _looking_ for the enemy and fighting it, rather than sleeping like drunk homeless people?"

"Oh that's right, I forgot we were supposed to find that guy. Do you know where he is?"

"No, but that's what we need to leave for: to _look_ for him."

"But…where do you, I mean we, start?"

Daisuke eyed Hikari suspiciously. Was this laziness about not being a team? Holy god, just how in the world did Taichi keep them together and thinking. They just seemed so…soporific.

"You idiots!" he screamed, and the sound ricocheted of off the close walls and pounded in their ears. "How many times do I have to tell you all that we need to leave! That we need to find this guy and defeat him! He's ruining the digital world! And haven't we already had this talk before!"

They stared blandly at him, all but Mimi. Her eyes were full of wisdom and understanding, causing Daisuke to make a drastic decision right there. 

"Go home, then," he said, "go home and take Izzy with you. I thought that Jenai was right in choosing all of you, but obviously the old man failed, too. If you go I won't hold it against you, but just keep in mind that I'm not giving up. If I can't make you see how important this is to everyone, to yourselves, then what's the point? Just go, and tell the others that I said you could when you see them."

He turned and was walking to the doors when a pale hand touched his shoulder. He first thought of the woman that had just been here, then he remembered what Hikari had looked like before this whole thing, and he smiled a bit.

"Davis," her soft voice whispered, "it's not like you think it is. Haven't you been thinking of anything other than this mission? Don't you feel that something is going wrong at home, too?"

His eyes flashed up to hers in question, and he felt like a kid again, with all his hormones screaming. But the storm soon abated and he furrowed his brow at her. 

"No. What's happening?"

She smiled that serene smile she was notorious in his heart for.

"Well, things that can't duly be explained in one breath. I don't think we have time for that talk, so how about this: I'll continue this quest with you, while everyone else goes home to make sure that everything is alright."

How odd. He had unconsciously figured that something of this sort would happen, but he thought that it would be Mimi that tagged along. How…odd. Here was Hikari, saying she'd go on this dangerous journey with him, and also sending a vibe that their home city was in trouble. Wouldn't she rather go to the people that she loved? Taichi, her brother – 

"I don't think anyone will be really hurt that we know, and we already said our goodbyes at the mesa, so I'd be glad to join you. Do you think this is okay?"

He nodded dumbly, oblivious to the hard days ahead of no food, constant pain, confusion, and a pale, cruel woman.


	5. Chapter Five

*As the story progresses, Political leaders, situations, and real history will be added. Please note that I take no part in these events, probably will never, and am only an innocent bystander putting a manipulated history using real people who have real lives into a fan fiction that a dozen people or less will read. Thanks and enjoy.  

''Killing me will not give them security.'' - Abdel Aziz Rantisi (Palestinian militant)

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Three**

The security that he had always given her would be gone if he went through with this. If he left, she would begin to doubt his motives now, even the ones from years past. He must feel no pain, no shame at all, if he talks to her like this. Leave! How would he walk five feet without her arm aroud him? He wasn't that strong; nobody was. If he thought it humanly possible to walk by oneself, live by oneself, and never have to depend on any other but yourself, she saw it in a completely different scale. He was grayscale, she in colorful spectrum. This setup had always worked before, why not now? Why did he have to leave, why did he have to abandon her, leave her with people who no longer loved?

She buried her fists further into her face, trying to think of reasons why he should stay. Because this is true love! You don't mess with things like that! If you don't understand it, don't want to understand it, then just let it be! But she knew what was so special about their arrangement, their time together. Part of it _was_ time, an imaginary guideline to a human's life. All the hours they had spent together made them practically siblings, and here he was saying he had to leave! This is true love, Tai! You just don't mess with that! Yet she couldn't bring her eyes to his, because the second reason was too painfully sweet to say, if only to herself. His hand descended upon her shoulder, she felt him crouch next to her, and right there it wouldn't have mattered if he was man, woman, beast, or bird she was still in love with him. This soul called Taichi; it's presence was everything to her now. It used to be on the side, a warm after thought, but now it was important. Suddenly it was something. Taichi was something. Not a man any longer, nor a body that had an affectionate touch, but _something_. The word was representative of so much…copious pain, love, and strength. Maybe if she could describe the word in perfect and meticulous detail the word would stay. And if the word stayed, the soul would, too. 

She grabbed his shirt and buried her head into it, not caring about the odd position her body had contorted itself to. Her entire mind was trembling with the effort of trying to hold onto him. That word, that word that word that word. How could she describe it and tell him what truth she knew about them, and about that age-old theory of love. She wanted to tell him that there was no such thing as love, it was just an inferior ersatz of something truer, something that could be considered divine. _True_ love: that was above all else in the world. It didn't matter what sex you were, what age, or what bloodline. It didn't care about any of those material ideologies. All it could ever care about would be the soul. Your soul. Tai, your soul, and the name that tries to represent it. 

They teetered off balance and spilled into the road, and Sora was suddenly laughing. Tears still slid down her face, but it was a happy face, and its eyes sparkled merrily when they saw Taichi's. Now mother didn't seem too far gone, and her husband's lack of love didn't matter anymore. Staring at the face of the one she loved mattered now, more than anything in the world ever would.   

"Kari, can I ask you something?"

She nodded.

"Do you really remember all that went on at the mesa?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean – what all was said?"

"Davis!" her eyes laughed at him yet still followed the passing ground. "You don't remember? That was only a couple of days ago…right?"

"Nuh-uh. It has to be longer than that. Weeks, even."

She shook her head and laughed, nervously almost. 

So he dropped it, and scanned the horizon. All of it was so bland now, even those blobs in the distance were beginning to look the same. The same. Everything, everything they passed looked exactly the same as the last. They had to be going in circles. 

He tilted his head towards Hikari. Circles…just like those brown eyes of hers. Why were they so dilated? It was incredibly sunny out here in the desert, yet her pupils were sidling towards the edge of her iris. Then he noticed her pale face, and her sweaty cheeks.

"Kari?"

Her brown eyes flickered over to him quickly.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright? You look…sick."

Her respondent laughing broke the still, stuffy air. 

"Oh, didn't you ever listen in biology? This is my adrenaline kicking in. Because my face doesn't need as much blood in an emergency, it's routed off to my muscles. You should really listen more often to teachers."

"Yeah…W- Why is your…What do you mean 'emergency'?"

She laughed again but didn't reply. 

Then once again the miles seemed replicas of past miles, the air grew more humid as the sun climbed to its zenith, and there was an unbreakable wall of silence between the two walkers. There was no conversation to thoroughly shatter those bricks, so Daisuke resorted to thinking, something he remembered watching Taichi doing when he was in "a pickle".

He dwelled for a moment on where they were headed, but that was a sad and twisted story that he didn't want to know the ending of. Then his thoughts unwillingly focused on his grumbling stomach, but he tried to ignore that. Soon he imagined what Mimi, Takeru, and Koushiro would do when they returned to the real world. What would they find? Something amiss like Hikari had foretold? He sighed. Hikari was sure weird sometimes. Almost like some sort of prophet. He glanced at her through the wall and played with the idea of her sitting by a river and humming, cross-legged. He started laughing, then Hikari said stiffly:

"There's something up ahead. Looks like an oasis."

The man followed her gaze and saw the clump of green on the milieu. The word 'umbrage' jumped into his mind and repeated itself over and over again, in time to the beating of his heart, as he quickened his pace. It didn't really matter that this could very well be a mirage. It didn't matter that they had been going in circles the past few hours. What mattered here was…

"Do you think there will be food in there?"

Hikari grinned and tried to keep step with him. 

"Maybe. Let's hope so; I'm starving."

So this was what giving in felt like. Succumbing…falling under the blows of your opponent. This is what it felt like. 

The digivice in his hand was shaking, trying to withstand the pressure of his grip. 

Yielding…Surrendering…

Failing. 

The digivice was whipped back to his side, where it resumed its shaking.

How could he not know what failing felt like?

But he did. It had been losing Sora to Etemon years ago, finding out that Hikari, his own sister, was the last digidestined, and standing aside to let Daisuke take leadership. Davis. Where had he gone to? How did Taichi really know for sure if Davis was going through with the mission. He wasn't strong enough. He'd struggle, fail, then crawl back to Taichi. Why not just meet him half way? Taichi moistened his lips. Help was no longer to be given. He flashed a smile at the blank computer screen, watched the reflection raise its arm, and as if in a dream, he saw the lips part and form the words, 'open'.

He was rushing through the wormhole, and on the sides were pictures that had never been. He caught glancing glimpses of them, but could not put two and two together. Streaks of brown, pink, and blue whipped past him, or he whipped past them, or they were both going opposite directions. Then the spectrum of the portal ended, and Taichi slammed, face first, onto the hard packed earth of the digital world. 

The first thing he noticed was the smell. 

Second: the ground.

And third: the putrid color the sky was. 

Had that much time really lapsed? He stood up in wonder and stared at the sky. Why was it such a toxic…toxic…toxic…wasteland. A toxic wasteland. Well, please let the adjective be describing the color, he pleaded, not the status, and I might live. Luckily toxic just described the overall feeling of the place. That and dejected, deserted, and hey! without life. His left foot crushed some dry blades of grass, and his right foot ground on some dry rib bones. He jerked it back quickly. Weird. Hadn't digimon always died by floating in particles to the sky? Eh, maybe that was just a PG precaution. 

Everything was so dead. Less than a month ago this had been a green, happy place and now… There was a sudden suffocating urge to jump back to the real world, but when he turned around, there was no portal there. Dread oozed over his body. No…there was no…no portal. Then the incredibly late realization that the digital was in trouble, life threatening trouble, collided with the light spirit that he had possessed not a moment before in the real world. It had not seemed light at all, but compared to the feeling happening now, the other could fly. 

He stared into the distance ahead. Where would Daisuke be leading them? Had they found a lead? It honestly didn't strike Taichi as possible that the boy could have figured this out on his own. Even if he hadn't been alone when the journey had started, it was possible that he was the only one left. The only one that would continue to fight. 

There was a crunching sound behind him. Then breathing. Human breathing. Fragments of the memories of his room nudged the edge of his mind, but he pushed them away and turned around.

"Sora!"

She smiled shyly.

"Yeah."

"What are you doing here? This is – is…"

"Don't say too dangerous, because I really couldn't care less about that. I just…well, this will sound really sappy, but I didn't want to not have you in the same world as I. And it's not a protection issue, it's…well…love, I guess."

He didn't respond for awhile, then, without a change in his serious visage said, "You're a little late in telling me that."

"No! It didn't matter about not telling you, because we both already knew. And besides, it's not the sort of love that you can get married on. I couldn't even begin to describe it."

"You shouldn't have even said it," hurt crept into her eyes and he added quickly, "but I catch your drift," and after a moment's pause: "There isn't a portal to go back through and we're stranded here now so…just make the most of it."

He turned back to the barren landscape, away from her searching eyes.

"Tai…what do we do?"

"What we do – it doesn't matter now."

There was such an air of bravado in his words that made her shut up for the next few minutes. She scrupled following him so far, but she couldn't forget how good it had felt to actually have him holding her. He had never showed affection so willingly…perhaps it would never happen again, considering the number of well-grounded walls he had surrounding his heart, but at _least_ she could stay with him to the end and discover if he would ever let his guard down again. How hopeful she really was disgusted her.


	6. Chapter Six

**The Footsteps are Fading**

Chapter Six 

"Sweet, blissful umbrage!"

Daisuke flopped onto his back under a large, shady tree. He gazed up at Hikari's amused face and rolled onto his side, which gave him a broad view on the insides of the oasis. 

"Should we search for food or water?"

"The water's most likely underground, so let's find something to eat."

They scavenged then for a half an hour and returned fruitlessly to their rendezvous point. They sat quietly in the speckled shade, stared up at the sun, at each other sometimes, and thought in muteness. There wasn't anything here but shade, and as helpful as that was, it wasn't exactly life sustaining. Daisuke played mindlessly with the bark of a nearby tree. He twisted and pulled at it until a chunk fell onto the ground, which he promptly stuck into his mouth. 

"I'm hungry," he said, chewing halfheartedly on the 'morsel'.

"You might get sick from that."

"Who cares. Then I could die quickly and – Kari?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a weird feeling about this place. Like…something is here. Something that…"

He trailed off and stared up at the trees. How unusually tall they were. And their leaves… He spit out the bark and stood up. 

"Kari. This is it. This has to be the spot."

"What? What spot?"

"Somewhere in this place is the guy that we're looking for, I can feel it."

"I think you've been out in the sun too long."

"No, this has to be it!" he pointed past himself, into a long stretch of trees. "Do you see how they're lined up so uniformly like? And their leaves! They're trimmed!"

"Davis…why would a guy who destroys practically all life on a planet trim the leaves of the trees around him? Wouldn't it make sense that he would _blow_ them up instead?"

"No, not really. Maybe he's one of those enemies who camouflages himself by hiding in places no one would expect him to."

She stared at him severely.

"Kari! Listen to me! This is it! We just have to search some more and maybe-"

"Well, _you_ can waste your time searching for a secret door to his master mind hide out place, but I'm going to go search for food again."

"Alright, but just keep an eye out for odd things, and you'll see what I'm talking about soon."

"I doubt it."

She faded into the scenery, and not a moment later Daisuke heard her scream. He darted to the sound of her voice, and found her pinned up against a tree, with an enormous digimon breathing into her white face.

"Leomon?"

The head craned in his direction with ostentatious slowness, but when their eyes did meet, there was no doubt that this was Leomon, a digimon that most of the older digidestined considered a friend. Yet how unfriendly the guy looked. 

His great, golden paw was curved around the lower portion of Hikari's face, and his dull black claws were denting the softness of her cheek. His countenance was perturbed and a little frightening when considering his deeply shadowed eyes. The eyes had frozen Daisuke to the spot, and when he heard a low rumble from the back of Leomon's throat, he would have spent his whole fortune at a wishing well, wishing he had Veemon back. 

Grass gave way easily under Leomon's advancing paw. His grip slowly loosened from Hikari and Daisuke found himself in the angle of a pacing, snorting lion. Oh, god.

Leomon lashed forward with extended claws at the man's face, but Daisuke had just enough wit left in him to jump back. Leomon abruptly rushed straight at his chest, Daisuke heard Hikari screaming, then hundreds of pounds were slamming into him, forcing him off his feet. His breath was instantly gone, and all the cuts and bruises from the pale lady's infliction laughed at him in disparagement. Little black dots speckled his vision, his blurred hearing told him that Hikari was still screaming, and the pain, oh god the pain, that was reawakened hurt SO much. He got his hands behind him and was pushing up when the two giant forepaws of Leomon shoved him back. Then there was a black and golden face snarling not an inch from his eyes, his chest was trying to heave with air but the paws restrained the diaphragm, and he could feel rather than see the oozes of blood that the claws were extracting from his chest. He became frantic, like anyone would in a similar situation. Any part of his body that was not pinned down he threw up against the overpowering body of Leomon, ignoring the tenderness of the old bruises. He kneed the digimon's legs and lower body, tried gripping and pulling at him with his hands, even pushing on his face, but the body was like hard rock, and with every struggle Daisuke could feel the claws wrenching further into his chest. He abated his attack for a moment and tried to think. Did he have anything that could be used as a weapon? Pain neurons kept screaming to him about the pain, the pain, please stop the pain, but Daisuke was thinking calmly now and he remembered…he had a skinning knife that he used on his hunting trips. Ecstasy pounded in his chest, because he remembered…taking it out of his bag…putting it in his…pocket! His hand flew down to the correct pocket and felt it's cool metal. It wasn't large, more for smaller animals, but it was now his best hope. He gripped the handle of it and slowly brought it up closer. Hikari stopped screaming in the background. He wondered if she had seen, or if she had been captured by some new enemy, but focused on inching the blade up closer, closer… Leomon's claws dug in further suddenly, and he growled into Daisuke's face, "Don't try it, human," but he had to. As quickly as he could, he flashed the blade up to Leomon's face and slashed him diagonally across the brow. He saw Leomon open his cavernous mouth to strike, and unconsciously pushed the knife up into the roof of his mouth. The handle protruded grotesquely for a moment, with his hand still wrapped around it, then Leomon snapped his mouth shut (Daisuke had fortunately just pulled his hand away) and glared menacingly at the man. He was afraid that the blade had not punctured Leomon's brain completely enough to kill him, when the digimon's eyes rolled backwards and his body tumbled on top of the already crushed man. The claws were still pushing into his chest, now more than ever, and finally Daisuke gave into the thoughts of pain, pain, must stop pain. He strained his arms against the body, then his legs, too, and he just managed to flip the great beast off of himself. He surveyed the damage, exhausted. Trying to be a true, tough hero, he told himself that he could still walk so there was no real harm done, although every inch of his body was screaming in protest. But forget that. He looked over at Hikari. 

She was squatting near the tree with her arms wrapped around herself and her face was as white as new snow. She wasn't facing his way.

Daisuke crawled over to her slowly, trying not to damage his chest anymore and favoring any extremely banged up limbs. She heard him and hastily turned to look him over. He looked half purple, with mixtures of red on his shirt, face, and hand, and mortifying look of desperateness still shining in his dark eyes. Desperate to get away from that expression, she rested her head gently against his shoulder, initially avoiding his eyes. He put an arm around her hunched shoulders, leaning his head on hers. She mumbled something into his shirt.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he replied, "are you?"

There was an assertive nod on his shirt and another mumble. Daisuke could only catch the word 'digimon', but he fancied that he could understand how she felt completely. It worried him now, to find a hostile digimon that had actually attacked _him_. It shouldn't have been so surprising, but he began to comprehend how much _they_ had realied on the _digimon_ before, and could even place that analogy on Hikari and himself now. But it didn't feel so bad, fighting for someone else, and he supposed that he wouldn't mind doing it again. The aftershock wasn't so bad as the presentshock had been, so now he could imagine repeating the feat many times just for the sake of Hikari. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, felt the outline of her spine, and began loving her with a new sort of love… one that would only allow him the protection of Hikari, and nothing else. So her being safe in his arms was such a pleasing feeling, that he wanted her to always be safe like this, always have him to count on. He even began to say this thought to her, but decided against the complexity of it. Instead he said nothing, and just held her closer. She lifted her head a little and said:

"Davis, do you think that Leomon was the one that we were looking for? The one that caused you to have that feeling earlier?"

"No, I think there's something else here, too. Perhaps he was guarding it."

She smiled at him and then leaned back into his warm body. 

In the real world, suspicion was festering. Normal people turned quickly into conspiracy theorists, and the cynical nodded and said they had known it all along. The people of Japan, China, and Java were mysteriously dying, and no government official had anything to say of the subject. There were no press conferences, in fact it was stunningly clear that there _was_ indeed a government conspiracy going on. Then there began to be assassinations of leaders. Yusril Ihza Mahendra of the Crescent Moon and Star party in Java was shot while bording a flight to Japan. Likewise Akbar Tandjung from the Federation of Functional Groups of Golkar was felled while walking amidst his own yard. In China the masses of people were still repressed by their communist government, and unhappily sat in their homes, plotting but afraid. Japan's government officials, including Tetsuzo Fuwa and Yukio Hatoyama, who were usually divided on most subjects, had banded together to prepare for any uprising. Then officials who seemed epigones of the shoguns and jitos of the 1100's multiplied. Suddenly the government took on the long dead ideology of the warrior Yoritomo, and chaos was met openly on the streets. Riots, theft – Japan made headlines all over the world for its unruly population, and yet to half of that population the cause was unknown. All the people knew was the effect, and the effects of that effect. Pandemonium welcomed one when one stepped out of the house, hit one when one boarded a subway…Japan was collapsing. Java, with it's 120 million plus population, was bending under the pressure of the people. China was sending out Gestapo-like mercenaries all over the country. Fright was only second to fury. First Fury, then Fright, but never give in early. Yet for some fright was all they could manage, and for one man, Yamato, fright was due to a missing spouse. A month passed in total anarchy and he feared her dead; perhaps caught in some crowd and trampled to death. Yet he could not bear to think of the possibilities, so he prayed every night for her safe return, and didn't allow his children to go to school. 

By chance or fate, Hikari's screaming reached the keen ears of her brother. Maybe just miles away, she saw Daisuke battling a digimon twice his size, and Taichi could hear the urgency in her voice. He took off at a sprint and wasn't supposing to wait for Sora, when something tugged at him to slow down. Confusion set in, but with a little resentment, he decided on jogging, a pace he thought was safe enough for them not to get separated. To his surprise, Sora streaked past him at full speed, not even throwing a glance back at him. He grinned and a little race between the two ensued. 

On reaching the foliage, Taichi called out Hikari's name loudly. There was no answer and the place seemed to be deserted. But that couldn't be. Sora and he ducked into the trees and searched fruitlessly for minutes, then they reached a clearing like a path and followed it's length. Half way across it they found Hikari, huddled up with Daisuke. 

"Davis!" he exclaimed, "what happened? Where's everybody else?"

The one in question looked up. Taichi's thoughts and movements fell over dead. Oh Jesus what had happened to this guy? He was half-dead! His body couldn't possible take anymore, and judging by the noticeable slump in his shoulders, he was mentally on the verge of death as well. Then Taichi caught his eye, and they bluntly stated, 'I killed someone, so nothing can hurt me now.' 

"Davis."

Sora tugged on his shirt quietly, and when she had his attention, pointed to the felled figure of a dolphin, lying on its side, showing off a red sign of eternity. But the image didn't exactly click into anything he knew, so he dismissed it for the time being. Yet how odd… 

He walked over and squatted next to the two, earnestly in search for Hikari's face, but it was hidden in Dasuke's shoulder. He touched her lightly on the back and whispered her name, and suddenly there was a transfer of safeness as she moved from Daisuke's arms into her brother's. He petted her head a little, thinking of nothing but how great it felt to have her safe. Somewhat like Daisuke's new conviction, yet not in so high a degree. It was merely an acknowledgment of how he much he had missed her. Yet abruptly he stood up and Daisuke followed suit. They stared at each other; each wondering what the past weeks had brought the other. On the verge of conversation, Hikari butted in.

"How is Japan?"

Out of the corner of his eye Taichi saw Sora's head snap towards his sister in surprise, perhaps anxiety, but he answered calmly.

"It was still functioning when I left it. Why are you worried about it?"

She looked up at him painfully, but just shook her head and gazed at the ground.

Daisuke seemed less inclined to conversation, but as a result of constant pestering, he was soon spilling all that had happened since the mesa. The rebellious spirit of the team angered Taichi some, but when Daisuke mentioned that his still very visible bruises and cuts were from a pale woman, the color of Taichi's face started to fade and he stopped Daisuke's narrative to question him more closely on the subject.

"What was she fighting you for?"

"I can't clearly remember…she didn't talk much. I can recall everyone else asleep on the ground, and her throwing me around like nothing. She kept on saying something like: '_Kara no dorei. Kara no dorei, ja nai_,' but other than that she was silent." 

Slave? Taichi's head rang with the sentence. _Kara no dorei…kara no dorei, je nai?_ What could she mean by calling them "empty slaves"? And the last words, _ja nai_, they sounded so teasing. He could imagine her voice when she said it, even saw her lips part and mouth out, "you're an empty slave, aren't you?" 

How angry it made him!   

"Davis, why didn't you fight back?"

"I…I…" Daisuke's head rolled gently to his shoulder, then his entire body slumped sideways into the ground, finally giving in to the pressing need to recover.

Taichi stared hard at this totally exhausted man. He sat down on the ground by him and watched his chest rise and fall, saw his eyelids twitch and his fingers jerk in uneasy sleep. He couldn't begin to imagine what the sleep held for the mistreated leader, and decided that it wasn't anything that he would like to share. He turned to Sora, who was watching him evenly, then to Hikari, who was staring at the grass still. The dolphin suddenly flickered in his memory, and he held his attention to it for a second; scrutinizing its form and being. _That dolphin is weird_, he whispered in his mind. He felt the grass around his hand dent in further as Sora crawled next to him. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Somewhere…where did everyone else go?"

"But he'll be okay I think, all he needs is some rest, and maybe some bandaging."

"He could have at least told us that much."

"Tai?"

He glanced at her. Her steady gaze was unnerving, and her face was surprisingly close to his.

"And…and…why are you looking at me like that?"

Silence echoed back to him. There in her he could see an emptiness that had been overlooked so many times before. The way that she had always cared for others signified that she was mentally sane and sturdy, but her eyes portrayed such a different image it was frightening. And her eyes were so beautiful…He was sucked into that strong red and could actually begin to comprehend as he began spiraling down its depths just how much thought that red had seen, and how _un_-inferior it really was to himself. Yet he shouldn't compare, no one ever should. Nevertheless it was so sudden that the fervor that that red screamed at him was so commanding and painful that he couldn't honestly find it in himself to give in one last time due to incompetence. He couldn't let anything like this ever happen again. He certainly couldn't…

He ripped his gaze away from her crimson red eyes just in time to stop his rapid decent.

"Sora," he gasped, "How could you leave your children back there?" 

"Hm?" Bemused, she sat back and hugged her knees to her chest. Then she looked him carefully in the eye and said: "This may sound terrible and put me in a bad light but…sometimes overbearing on a subject isn't healthy and should just be…put to an end, no matter what end that is and how you acquire it."

He stared at her in perplexity, but his concentration on what she had meant was soon broken by a rumbling that issued forth from all around them. Hikari stood up shakily on her legs and ran towards Taichi, stumbling every now and then, and Daisuke was rudely awakened from his pre-mortem sleep. The roaring halted any conversation, but none would want to talk, as they watched the tree tops above their heads shake violently. Clouds from out of nowhere, or perhaps all corners of the digital world, amassed in the sky over them and a deathly blackness stuffed the air full of malevolent spirit. They watched in astonishment as the body of the dolphin was lifted off of the ground and soon eaten by the overshadowing masses of accumulated precipitation.  Confusion reflected in all hearts, but fear in only three.         

In Taichi's heart there was a fortified wall made of steel, constructed for one rationale only…

*skazzy ending song stolen from Weiss Kruez intro*

"Tada itoshiki mono dakishime 

_Chiisaki mono mamoru tame_

_Kyou mo dareka ga sakebu_

_Kono inochi sae mo nagedashi_

_Toki no naka de moetsukiru_

_Sono isshun ni kuchizuke wo…"_


	7. Chapter Seven

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Seven**

"…every man makes his own religion, his own God."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Four**

China's power over the people finally ended. 

Like a massive dam that had kept back thousands of tons of water, when one stoke broke, the whole mess collapsed upon the country. Tidal wave after tidal wave of people slammed against the communist party, and when that was crushed beyond recognition, the people were still not satisfied, so they swarmed over the whole of China, even spilling into Mongolia and Laos, Tahiti, and others in that proximity, looking for anything that minutely reminded them of the communists and they overtook it with such burning force, such reckless, mortifying desire, that none dared to stand in their way. The people embraced anarchy so violently that no new political parties even began to spawn the idea of talking to a group of merely five people in hopes of getting the country back together. Obviously, the masses of the people wanted absolutely no government, so politics therefore came to a screeching halt for a very, very long time. As a result, food began to become sparse. No imports of it were happening, due to worldwide fear of the one billion angry peoples in China, so soon such a lovely, technologically advanced country turned into a savage wilderness. All stores had been looted, no hospitals were functioning, and the virus of SARS was still creeping around, jumping on people from behind when they least expected it. The death tolls were heart stopping in their numbers. In a few months, thousands of people had died. Japan, keeping its isolated mentality as always, shied away from any happening in China, for it had it's own troubles to worry over. Their short revolution was already beginning to fade after several guerrilla leaders were killed. Now the masses teemed into submission, but there were still ruffles to be smoothed.

Halfway home, Yamato was stopped in the street by some long-missed friends. They looked concerned, tired and hungry, but altogether healthy and alive despite his fears. He took Koushiro, Mimi, and Takeru back to his house for dinner and a long interrogation. His first question pertained to Sora. All three of them were confused at his mentioning her, as they hadn't seen her since the mesa. An iron fist squeezed at his heart painfully, but he continued the conversation quickly with asking them what the digital world looked like now. All were silent for some time.

"It's…" Takeru started, but told his companions with his eyes to continue the description. Koushiro took it up.

"…like a maze now, Matt. A brown, lifeless maze. There were times when I had no idea how we ended up in one place, and then suddenly we were in another like that." He snapped his fingers.

"And you left Davis and Kari?"

"Yeah, Davis…" Mimi struggled with her words, so Koushiro once again finished the sentence.

"He's stronger than us; he didn't need us. We were just hindering him like little children."

"So then why is Kari still with him? Wouldn't she be the most clingy?"

"Yeah, but…I'm not sure how to explain this, but they _are_ the team. There really was no need for us three at all. Davis is smarter now, he easily replaces me."

"And who needs me to fight when Davis is so strong?" Takeru said.

"Hikari is his support in this thing, too. It might have been too much of a hindrance if I had stayed."

Yamato nodded at Mimi. So Daisuke and Hikari were the only ones fighting now. How fitting.

"Did you find anything about the enemy?"

Takeru laughed loudly.

"Weeks spent there! – starving, dead tired – and we didn't find one SCRAP of anything of the guy. Somewhere along the way we lost the trail of the explosions and just started wandering. That was the time when I think we were hit mentally the hardest, and when most of us gave up. I really admire Davis now, because he was the one who kept our mission before him as top priority. Us…I can't give us that credit."

"Our merit is terrible," added Koushiro sadly, and somberly picked at his plate. 

"So…basically nothing happened?"

The three stared at him blankly. So it seemed that nothing happened, but they couldn't remember very clearly anyhow. So, forgetting the blurred weeks spent in the desolate digital world, they pushed into the subject of Japan and why it was so chaotic.

"Oh, that, yeah. Um, that's sort of a weird topic. All very political and…yeah. Let's just be happy that everything is getting back to normal. You should be glad you missed the most of it, because it was scary as hell. For some reason, I kept on thinking that bombs would start falling any minute." He half-laughed, but tried to answer their other questions, but his focus was on Sora, and just where she could be. The last he had seen of her she had taken their bedroom phone downstairs to talk to someone who had called in the middle of the night. If only he had stayed awake and asked her who it was! He bit his lip and stared down at the table. He thought he recalled hearing the front door open…

Suddenly there was a deafening sound that sounded much like a two-ton something falling onto concrete right next to one's ear. The windows began to shake violently in their frames and a rumbling sound ricocheted off all the walls, causing them to shudder. Yamato ran to window and was looking up into the sky, when the glass shattered and he was thrown backwards onto the table by a fierce wind. A blast wave completely leveled his entire neighborhood and the surrounding ones, throwing all four of them to the floor, semi-unconscious and temporarily without the ability of hearing. 

Yamato tried to get up even in his nonsensical state. There was a large slate of roof on his legs, and other such rubble crushing his upper body. Automatically he thanked god for not letting something hit his head and ultimately put an end to him, but then a realization colder than that of Sora's disappearance hit him: his children. 

_(Dirty word dirty word dirty word)_, Yamato screamed in his head. Then: _children children children! Where are my children? Oh god, they were upstairs…upstairs…upstairs…_ Something tickled his brow… _upstairs…upstairs…I told them to go upstairs…please let them be rebellious just this once, please, please, I'd give anything to have them eavesdropping on our conversation a few moments ago, please, please, anyone…God?…_

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and thought nothing but thoughts like those said above. Then someone very close to him coughed. Wasn't a woman, so that scratched out Mimi. Wasn't very old sounding… His heart beat furiously. Oh please, yes, that has to be…

He opened his eyes.

His boy was trying to wipe blood off of his face with his shirt. 

Thank you, god. Thank you.

Over there, to the left, he saw his girl struggling to sit up. 

A thousand thanks flew from him up to wherever god was; enough to block all other prays to god and halt any other readings but his for the next few days. He smiled. 

Koushiro had already been pushed to the ground by Yamato's flying body, so he hadn't received mentionable damage. Takeru, lying not three feet from Koushiro's shoes, was trying to wrench his arm from under a large piece of debris. Cuts ranged all up and down his body, but not serious enough to cause any real hurt. Mimi (spared by god knows what) was already standing and walking to Takeru to assist in his plight. The house was strewn upon the ground, like all others in propinquity. So the house opened to the sky, which portrayed menacing clouds of blackness, turning the day abruptly into night.

His son fingered his brow softly, with worries etched into his face despite his father's smile.

"Are you okay?"

His son nodded. Then his daughter stumbled over and fell to her knees by her brother. Tears were sketching the Nile into her cheeks. Yamato reached up and wiped away the dirt and water, smiling at her. She was safe, unharmed. Takeru gradually got out from the painful grasp of the debris and coughed loudly.

"What the _hell_ was that!" he screamed, staring up into the ominous sky.

"A bomb of some sort," Koushiro said quietly.

"Oh, well, thank you for _that_ informative report, Izzy. I MEANT: who the hell dropped it on us!"

They were all silent. Those who were well educated in this sort of thing (or had read Alas Babylon, whichever) refrained from speaking of the fall-out that might plague the area at any second or had already fallen. Koushiro wet his finger and held it up. He sighed.

"You all don't know how lucky we are," and then, "and how unlucky the people south of here are going to be."

Yamato nodded and all would have been hushed if Takeru wasn't still screaming questions in the background. They were good questions, but silly because none of them could possibly answer him.

"Did we just survive that?" asked Mimi, and all acceded. 

They noticed the neighbors standing up now, and abruptly the whole neighborhood seemed to be alive like it had never been before.

Sora's hand dug into his shirt, pulling him closer with each eardrum ripping roar overhead. Hikari also clung to him; her hands clamped firmly on his arm. Rudely awoken, Daisuke cursed up at the sky and would have joined the group many feet from him, but was inclined to stay and rest, seeing as it would be excruciating to even crawl. 

Cloud after cloud piled up into one, forming a bloated mass of darkness that started spitting out burning hot rain on them. It was an odd sensation; one like thinking something weighs much more than it does, and then picking it up with a strength unnecessary. Daisuke was fortunately saved from being scalded on top of all his other injuries, for his three companions picked him up and carried him to the safety of thick trees. All four sat under the foliage, staring at the sky, wondering what else it would bring. Steam rose in thick sheets from the ground outside the protection of trees and spurts of lightning shattered the sky, instantly followed by the bellows of enraged thunder. The four of them huddled together, dashing away pride, as they watched in silence the horrifying yet intriguing storm from their standpoint. They crossed their fingers and held their breath, hoping that the lightning would not strike their tree. Whether or not it struck that particular tree didn't really matter, because the strike of _any_ tree in the oasis would surely see them to running, seeking shelter from rain and fire. This possibility of lightning striking was as sure as they were digidestined, for the storm above was outrageously furious. Taichi sat chewing his lip, Daisuke covered his eyes from any penetrating raindrops, Sora stared up in wonder at the clouds, and Hikari sat dead still, watching Daisuke. A miracle then happened. 

Lightning, as we have convinced ourselves before, was sure to strike, but by pure luck Daisuke had left his knife in the clearing, in which there was sparse grass and no trees for quite a wide diameter. Again and again, the white bolts of electricity were drawn to the conductor, saving the digidestined from any further woes that might have come to pass. 

So, that poor little blade, took the full impact of several bolts, leaving it steaming red hot, with all of its little electrons racing as fast as their "legs" could carry them. This was a spectacular and wondrous picture. Like the center of everything, with the digidestined only yards away, it withstood all attacks and sat still, almost mocking the sky. Many hours were thus passed in this manner, until the digidestined were driven away from their hiding spot, for the heat from the knife was incredibly strong. When the storm finally abated, the clouds refused to leave. 

The digidestined (excluding our fearless Davis) stood up soon after the rain discontinued its assault and tried to walk around, but found the ground so sodden in parts that their shoes sunk to almost the very top. So they returned to the handicapped Daisuke to sit and think, like stranded people on an island in the middle of an ocean. 

"Well," Taichi said, "this bites the bagel big time. What are we supposed to do now?"

"What were you planning to do in the first place? Miraculously _find_ the enemy that is so elusive?"

Taichi shot Sora an altogether evil look, but refrained from opening his mouth further. 

A long lapse of no talking then followed, until Daisuke eventually pushed himself up (with much groaning) to a sitting position. He stationed himself against a tree, facing the others. Taichi and he stared at each other unconsciously, maybe communicating in some special language that only leaders can understand, or maybe just staring stupidly at one another. Against all of our hopes, the latter was not the truth. 

Taichi stretched to a standing position and stared up at the sky. He was unaware as to whether it was night or day for the clouds still festered in the heavens, blocking sun and moon. He pulled out his digivice and fingered the buttons on it. He had always wondered what those did (don't we all?) and was, just out of curiosity, going to push one, when Sora walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. He let his shoulder ease under her touch as he looked back into her eyes. She was smiling. 

"What," he said, feeling a smile lift his face, too. 

"Well our brave leader, what is it that you had planned?"

He laughed; an odd sound that seemed to creep into the trees around them, and arouse their questions.

"Just keep in mind that I'm open to suggestions."

"Whatever you say, o great one." She tried a curtsy but was wearing pants. 

"Tai?"

He tore his eyes away from Sora and to Daisuke, who, compared to Sora, had a dreadful countenance. 

"You're standing on something."

He looked down towards his feet, saw nothing, and turned back to Daisuke, confused.

"Sora, too."

Now both Sora and Taichi were picking up their feet and gazing at the saturated ground, unable to find what the man meant. Scrupling Daisuke's sanity, they gave him an odd look, implying their ignorance of his meaning. He sighed and signaled them to come near him. They did so, and, when at his eyelevel, they found that the piece of earth they had been standing on had in fact a latch of some sort, therefore making it a door. 

"A door?" Taichi said blandly. "What the heck is that doing out here?"

"It must be what Davis felt: the thing that we're looking for."

"The enemy?"

Hikari vacillated on her answer a bit, then said: "If you wish to call it that. I think it's more fitting if it'd be called the core of the problem."

Taichi frowned.

"So…ultimately the enemy."

She shrugged. 

Sora and Taichi walked over to the latch, then crouched next to it. Opening it…what might they unleash? The enemy? Taichi held his breath, touched the latch softly, and then with a  hard and quick yank pulled up the door. Soil silted down into the black hole, wide enough for two people to pass through side by side. The beginning of a staircase could be seen, but everything past that was lost in a dark oblivion. Taichi looked over at Sora, reading in her eyes the same apprehensiveness he knew to be in his own. She jerked her eyebrows up a little, seeming to ask the question, 'we're not really going down there, are we', but Taichi nodded and put on a false, pathetic smile. He craned his eyesight back to Hikari and Daisuke.

"Either of you have a flashlight?"

They shook their heads simultaneously, and when he turned to Sora she was shaking hers as well. He sighed. 

"Well, then I guess it's the old 'hold hands and feel the wall' game, huh?"

He rose and went back to his sister. He didn't plan to take Daisuke along, and he shouldn't be alone, so…

"Do you mind staying here with Davis, Kari?"

She shook her head furiously, indicating her great _will_ to stay with Daisuke.

"Okay, but if anything goes wrong up here, feel free to follow us in. I doubt there will be many passages in there. Oh, and Davis," he glared at the man, "you better take care that Hikari doesn't get hurt."

Daisuke smiled and gave him the thumbs up sign, then Sora and Taichi seized each other's hands and descended down the dark staircase.****


	8. Chapter Eight

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Eight**

With fingertips trailing across the interior of the passageway, leaving smudged fingerprints that were at once eaten by dew, Taichi and Sora slid into the darkness that beckoned to them, walking into an existence devoid of any shred of light at all. The walls seemed to be constructed of some sort of asphalt, but the floor was spongy and unadorned. There was silence everywhere; swallowing their uneven footsteps, devouring all trace of their breathing, and biting a trail of uneasiness into their minds. No sound welcomed their straining ears, nor did any discernable figure appear before their deprived eyes. So they pushed onward, (what felt like) against the grain, and into the black vastness of the tunnel. It smelled sinisterly sweet, like the entrails of a ripped petal, like the salt of the sea, and all resided in their sensitive noses, awaiting their categorization and filing. 

Time, a so unnecessary thing, would give them no comfort here. It had left them at the doorway, bidding adieu and wishing them luck on their further traveling. No, time, that wretched, conniving wench, was too cowardly to fight alongside of them. So they plodded along, pulling their shoes out of the mud every now and then, and always endeavoring to see some light ahead, or feel a change in scenery. Neither happened for well upon an hour, and such a pressing sentiment of claustrophobia was settling upon their diminishing wits, that they were quite ready to sprint back the way they had came and report that nothing was to be found, just a dead end, when their feet gave off a hollow echo. 

Taichi squatted and touched his fingers to the floor.

"It's tile," he reported, erecting himself.  

Now they hastened forward, drinking in the happy sounds of a real floor, with hopes of finding a room ahead of sorts. That's all they were expecting, though, and that would of perhaps been their downfall had not Sora suddenly tripped. Taichi's hand caught her and he was just about to ask of her well-being when a grating sound issued from up ahead. Both snapped their heads to its general location, their hearts abruptly holding a heavy burden of fear. They waited for a moment in total silence, barely twitching, when they heard the sound again. Taichi squatted again and picked up the thing Sora had tripped upon. His fingers slid across the smooth surface of it, acknowledged its bumpy edges, its slim middle and long form, then he held it to his nose and doubled back in surprise, flinging the bone from himself. Before he could hear the expected clatter, the grating sound repeated, and their was a slight cracking noise, then all was still. 

"This place is…"

"Booby-trapped?"

Taichi nodded, though all movement was lost in the dark. 

"How do we…"

He pressed past Sora with his hands held out in front of him. Soon enough they hit cold, rusted metal, and he calculated with his hands the distance between each spike. Enough for a person to squeeze through…

"Sora, would you go through these, please?"

"Are you out of your mind! There's no way I'm going through those things!" While she spoke the spikes slid back into the wall with much ado. 

"Look, they're timed for a pretty long time, maybe around thirty seconds of sitting still."

"Thirty seconds! Hey! I've got children! Why don't you do it?"

"Well, alright, but if I get through you're going to have to do it in the end anyway."

She sighed, but that was all.

He waited patiently by the spikes until they flung back out at an alarming speed. Quickly, he stuck his leg through one of the lower holes and stooped to its level. With maybe an inch spared above and below his back from the spikes, he edged his body in until he had half of his body on the other side. Unexpectedly, the spikes receded. Options flying as fast as the devil could have carried them whirled in his head as he stayed absolutely still, wondering what would happen if he flung himself out of harm's way. But the options were swiftly deserted as the spikes more or less flew out of their hiding places, catching him in an odd design. Even with his immovable self, one gashed him roughly on the shoulder, but he disregarded it and hurriedly pulled the rest of himself through. On the other side, he could just perceive the spikes sliding like eels back into their holes. He cursed inwardly at them and touched his burning shoulder. Cursed, rusty metal – it'd probably give him an infection. 

"Tai? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," and after a pause, "maybe you shouldn't do this…"

Like a ghost, he felt Sora's hand upon his shoulder.

"Do what?"

How not surprising…

"You're hurt! Jesus, Tai, that's deep…I wish I had something to dress it with, but…"

"It's alright, I'll be fine."

He felt her fancy him lying, but there was really nothing to be done about it right now; curing would have to wait like always. So they set off again, this time with Taichi leading in the front in case any more spikes popped out, because, like Sora had said, she had children and couldn't afford to die. 

Luck filled time's abandoned post for the time being, and they made it to the expected room without further hindrances. 

Shreds of light finally harassed their eyesight, and, as dim as it was, it took them a good five minutes to accustom to the change. When their vision was a hundred percent again, they took in the enormous room before them, though it was more than an eyeful. 

Blazing torches were distanced several feet from each other on the wall, draperies fell like red satin snakes from ceiling to floor, the floor itself was pitted in many places, with puddles of water residing in the deeper elevations. They were standing clear near to the roof, with the room set sprawling down below them, and as far as the brightness of the torches would allow them to perceive. In the center of such segue beauty, sat that which they were sure to be the enemy. Yet Taichi's sharp eye recognized someone standing close to the enemy, someone…

A tugging feeling pulled at him as he finally focused on the woman's hair, beauty – it told him what he had convinced himself of so many nights ago, while lying in bed: this woman would always be with him no matter what would come to pass. Be she an angel or a devil, Taichi knew that this was a person who, out of animosity or respect, would constantly be with him. 

He exhaled his contained breath sharply. What a ride his life would finally turn into. 

With a grace evocative of all things divine, the woman lifted her golden eyes up to Taichi's, and smiled such a disturbing, hell-provoking smile, it instantly occurred to Taichi that the rest of his life would be spent in an inferno outside of the devil's residence, with this woman as his sole captor.

Oblivious to the unlucky fate that the stars had bestowed upon her brother, Hikari nestled next to Daisuke, more for warmth than for affection. The clouds still remained locked, and had brought with their cold-heartedness a chill wind that ravaged the trees around the two humans and sent them into violent shivers. Daisuke, for all his pain, managed to bring an arm up and wrap it around the frail body of Hikari. The night (or day, it was still impossible to tell) blackened into a thick cold dread that smeared like peanut butter over the couple, muffling their whimpers to a low whisper in the background. The foreground itself was too occupied with the wind and the clouds to take heed to these two suffering companions, and duly went along with its business, ignoring their trepidation.

"Davis?" Hikari managed to say between her chattering teeth.

He only nodded against her body in response and pushed closer into her small warmth.

"Let's go sit in just the entrance of the tunnel to get away from this wind."

With a short and painful jolt of the head, Daisuke agreed. Crawling slowly and carefully, he followed her over to the open tunnel and eased himself onto one of the lower stairs. The wind howled angrily at their departure, skimming like the ocean on crevices that littered the ground, searching for their bodies to hassle. Aside from the cold dampness in the tunnel, it was warmer without the wind and they now could sit opposite from each other, more comfortably. Hikari looked longingly into the darkness, wondering where her brother was and if maybe he was looking back to where she sat right now, pondering the same question. 

Daisuke half-closed the door, propping it up with a stick.

"Hikari…" his mouth loved the feel of her name, "do we have any food left?"

She dug through the packs sitting next to her and pulled out a small container filled to the brim with a pasty, green substance.

"Mm, how 'bout straight wasabi?"

 He pulled a face and dragged one of the bags up to his hand, reached in and lifted out some plastic container. He opened it and sniffed. 

"Heh, with California sushi, too. Can't be too expired…"

He heard her laughing, but so did the tunnel, and it stole away most of her happiness before he could enjoy it. He shoved the package back in the bag and kicked it away from himself.

"Hikari," again his mouth got a treat, "do you think we should go after them?"

"It wouldn't help at all. We don't have our digimon…but neither do they."

"Hikari…"

"Why do you keep saying my name," she laughed, "I'm the only other person here!"

"Sorry."

"It's okay, it's just…weird how you're saying Hikari instead of Kari. I'm already creeped out enough without you going all serious on me."

"It's a serious time."

"Yeah, but shouldn't you be worried about keeping calm instead of freaking other people out?"

"I'm just responding to what's happening. Why should I run away from the truth that this is a desperate time?"

"Hm, well, maybe for the sake of your _sanity_."

"You mean your sanity; I'm fine with this."

Hikari was silent. Yeah, so what if it was only for her, wasn't that a legitimate reason enough to stop?

"Daisuke." She bit her tongue.

"Yeah?"

"I'm worthless, aren't I?"

"To what?"

"To you."

There was a long period of time when she didn't hear his voice again, which she took to be implying her truth. No, she wasn't worthless in a material way, but he really had no use for her soul, right?

"Hikari…what would it matter if you were worthless to me, which you're not be assured, because aren't you worth something to yourself? You shouldn't of had to ask me that question, because you should possess confidence enough to answer it for yourself. You are worthless in some way, we all are -"

"Davis-"

"- because what good are we to the next person but to ourselves? What good are any of us to all of us as a whole? We don't have worth now, I don't think that one person could ever truly have a complete worth without a complete mind."

"And we don't have a complete mind?"

"Of course not! How could we possibly fathom what else others believe? How could we see every person's thought and soul? Maybe if one could do that, then one would be whole, and then worth something. But until we find who that is, just live with the fact that we _are_ ultimately worthless."

"Bravo, but that didn't answer my question."

"Yeah, I know, I was just hoping to throw you off track."

"So am I?"

"Considering what I said before…" he started, but shook his head. "No, Kari, you're not worthless to me, I don't even know where you got that conviction in the first place. But let me ask you this: what good am I to you?"

"Shut up," she whispered, and leaned over to kiss him. 


	9. Chapter Nine

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Nine**

"It needs no uncommon eye to see that the finger of death has rested on the church."

- Sampson Reed 

Masafumi Tanaka, one of Japan's top reporters, could be seen flying from household to household, asking this, asking that, and all around shoving his camera in their faces while they picked at the remainder of their lives. Some blatantly ignored him, others insulted and cursed him, so when he made it over to Yamato's house, he wasn't expecting a hug and a "how do you do". He asked them a question politely enough, and when they answered equally civil like, it struck a humanitarian string in his heart (a thing to behold in reporters) and he asked if they needed any help. Concern actually rang true in his voice, but there was little he could do. They shooed him off and continued to rummage through the ruble, picking up odd things and then tossing them to the side. If Sora ever got home, Yamato thought, there'd be some "ss'plaining' to do. 

Sora, as of that time, was looking down upon the digital world's most ferocious and damaging opponent ever. And as if his reputation wasn't enough, he sure looked the part of it. 

"Massive" fell considerably short of describing his bulk. He could perhaps fill the description of a fourth of the size of the room they were in. His eyes could not be thought of as less than the devil's own. He had hair, but it was crimpy and unnatural, trailing all the way down his back in dark spurts that _had_ to be crawling with some bug or another. Fortunately, he wasn't facing them, though Sora guessed they could have smelled his breath from their position so high above. She couldn't clearly see his face, but what she did see was enough. Protruding canines popped out of the lip corners, driping saliva that would no doubt burn one to death (fitting descriptions of some terrible giants she had once read about). Rough, leathery skin stretched itself painfully around his overgrown body, giving the impression that he would burst out of it any second. Raptor-like claws adorned his feet and hands, randomly clicking on the floor as if they had a mind of their own. She groaned outwardly.

"We have to fight _him_?"

Taichi passed a look that said "oh-my-god-what-have-you-done", as the chthonic beast on the ground cracked his head to their vicinity, gaping out of wonder or stupidity. The woman, whom had been staring at Taichi and him at her, dashed towards the wall they were in and soon vanished from sight in the shadows. Taichi spun Sora around and pushed her back to the tunnel, hoping to get out of this creepy, sanity-threatening place, but a pale hand shot out and grabbed him roughly by the collar. 

"Run!" he shouted, shoving Sora further into the tunnel. "Get out of here and take -"

His mouth was covered suddenly with the woman's hand, who's strength was amazing, and he was twisted around, forced to stare at her golden eyes. She slammed him up against the wall and brought her mouth to his ear, whispering sardonically: "Help me, help me, where did I come from, little boy?"

He struggled against her grip, but she pinned him to the wall again, her face scornfully close to his.

"What's the matter, little boy, aren't you going to tell me where I came from, or are you so ignorant _and_ weak as to not answer?"

He relaxed his back against the cool concrete and stared her in the eyes hatefully, trying to ignore the fire engulfing his shoulder in pain. She smiled and daintily brushed a hair back from her eyes, then rested the same hand on his forehead.

"Poor Taichi," she whispered, "it was never in your stars to die now."

She moved her hand so that it covered his eyes, and leaned her head against his, laughing at his predicament. 

"You're such an interesting person," she continued, "living such an isolated life, letting your one love get away from you…I thought I might help you out, but then I discovered your delightful design! Why, you're so gullible and strong; just the right person I need to help me, if help can be so expected from a human."

He frowned at her, removed her hand from his eyesight, and bodily thrust her against the opposite wall. Instead of saying 'ow' like a person would expect, she giggled at his attempts and with one hand had him back up against the wall, biting his lip in pain. 

"Aw, why are you fighting me? Don't you remember our little conversation that one morning…The time when you said that I'd always be with you and that was okay?"

Taichi shook his head and averted his gaze, redirecting his thoughts to Sora, to wonder if she was running down the tunnel now, far away from this nonsense. 

"Nonsense?" the mouth breathed by his ear, "what makes you call it that? Why do you want to run away from your one and only girl, me?"

"I don't even know your name, so why do you think I would associate with you like that?"

"Because it's not names that matter, nor how long one has known the other – it's a confidence, Taichi, a confidence that can tell the difference between wrong and right."

"That's not so hard to do consciously."

"Or is it?"

He brought his eyes up to hers quickly, but refused to betray any emotion other than contempt.

"Well, seeing as you are so the strong and silent type, here's a test," she smiled dangerously, "go down there and kill that buffoon. He deserves it."

"What will happen?"

"Why, you'll be the hero!"

"No, I mean to you."

"Such concern for one you so disrespect? I'm touched."

"You shouldn't be. I was wondering if I killed him, would that put you out of the picture, too?"

"Don't believe you can be satisfied so easily, dear. If you kill him, which I'm sure you can (here she winked), I'll become the ruler of the digital world."

"A benign ruler?"

"Of course not, but wouldn't you rather have a beautiful ruler than…" she indicated with a toss of her head the beast that was standing utterly still on the floor below them.

"Why do you want to be ruler of a few digimon?"

She shook her head.

"If you don't understand it, then why should it bother you? Just be assured that you have to kill that beast down there anyway, and we're on a good enough accord to talk to each other civilly after I become ruler, got it?"

"That's insane. Why the hell should I kill him when you're the one who wants him gone so badly? Plus, you're obviously stronger than I am."

"Nice observations, and a little persuading if I hadn't already decided to fight with you. Now, come on, let's get rid of that thing on a mutual agreement."

She took a step back and held out her hand. It seemed hard to trust such a strong and treacherous woman, but they were in the same humour as of now. He extended his hand to hers and shook it cautiously, half expecting to have the life sucked out of him. 

"Great!" she cried, "now let me see that shoulder of yours, for you can't fight him without full strength."

Not asking how she knew, the digidestined leader turned his back to her and waited apprehensively, somehow knowing that she could heal with maybe a touch.

"This'll sting," said she, and there was such a sudden jolt on his shoulder that he was flung forward and smacked into the wall. "Hm, that was a little stronger than usual, sorry."

Taichi un-suctioned himself from the ground, stood up quickly, and inspected his shoulder. No cut came to his fingers, nor blood, and he would have called her an angel had he not just been severely beleaguered by her. 

He turned to say thanks, but he found her already descending to their opponent, without explaining their battle plan at all. He sighed heavily, thought Sora far away by now, and followed the mysterious woman down.

Daisuke feigned surprise at Hikari's sudden display of emotion. He had honestly expected such a thing, considering the situation and the fact that they were alone, perhaps witnessing the last moments of each other's life, although neither of them thought of it that deeply. He didn't kiss back, he didn't know if he should. He was here to protect Hikari now, not indulge in a passionate love scene (that the author really doesn't want to write). When she broke apart from him he could sense her disappointment, but it couldn't be helped. It would be morally wrong on his part to entertain such fantasies.

"Kari…I'm sorry. It's just not -"

"Don't worry, I understand, I shouldn't of done that."

He grimaced at the cold shoulder he received. It was an odd transaction, going from philosophical tidings to depression, a road not traveled every day. And besides, she hadn't answered his question. Or maybe she had with that kiss, but it was a negative answer that he didn't really relish. But still…

He shook his mind, trying to clear it of such contemplations. It didn't matter, it was just a…_jeez!_ The child inside of him cried. _This is the girl that you used to be crazy in love with! She just kissed you! Does that not click for you! Need someone to smack it into your head? _

He unconsciously brought his hand up to smack himself, but instead used it to pull Hikari's face towards his own. __

"Hikari…"

But it was past words at that point for him. Maybe this wasn't love that he was feeling, but he knew that she needed him right now and protecting someone would also mean entertaining them, too, right? Undoubtedly. 

He leaned into her, closing his eyes, squeezing them shut, then leaning in further, and-

"Davis! Kari!"

Sora came rushing to them through the gloomy tunnel, running like Lucifer himself were bent on her destruction. She halted just close enough to see their faces (which were now no longer so close), jittery and sweating.

"What's wrong? Where's Tai?"

"We found the enemy! We found…" she trailed off, wondering at her first words and their overall irony. Why would this make her happy?

"Is my brother there?"

Sora nodded profusely. "We have to hurry back to him!"

"Why? What can we do to help him?"

"We can give him confidence!"

"I don't think Tai would want us to see this fight…"

"Then don't go! Stay here and rot; you're too injured to walk anyway."

Like a mule, Daisuke jumped up and shouted: "I'm fine!"

She grinned and soon all three of them were sprinting down the tunnel, towards the man that was ultimately walking into a death trap. During their race, Daisuke glanced over at Hikari and caught her eye, who seemed to be thinking about their interruption, too. But she only winked at him and said: 

"It's the thought, Davis, not the pleasure."****


	10. Chapter Ten

The Footsteps are Fading

**Chapter Ten**

On the floor, divine intervention could not have been more transparent to spectators, but for the players caught and suffocated in the bowels of the cavern it seemed like an everyday happening. God, Taichi thought, could never be so willing to converse with the worst part of himself or any of his subjects; yet such a simile could be placed on this time that it was frightening to such a mortal, and Taichi demanded of the woman to know who she was. If, though it would be impossible, our brave leader had played the role of the spectator, he would have pondered at the irony of saying "she", but that is for later musings on our part. The blonde lady merely snickered at his ignorance, and then walked closer to the beast in front of her.

"O wise master," she said, bowing low, "it is in my greatest distress to see you bound by our morals and conflictions, so that I will hope to ease your apparent suffering soon, if my lord so advises me to."

The one in address only twitched a muscle by its eyelid, displacing an inquisitive fly.

"For," the woman continued, "I cannot wish to achieve felicity (though it renders all of my softer sentiments to pieces to say such a thing) whilst you are so breathing and so ignorantly living a life that by all means does not prove fruitful to my designs."

Finally, the beast stirred and mumbled: "They are evil designs."

"And I, my lord, am an evil person, as should be expected of so despicable an upbringing as I have endured. But laying all past skirmishes aside, my ever valorous lord, I propose to uphold my end of the bargain if you agree as well. The bargain being, if your mind needs refreshing, that neither of us will impose upon the intentions of the other, which I feel you are incredulously carrying out."

"How so?"

"By warrant of your merit, and I will confess as to wanting this ghastly place you dwell in to be called my own. Forsooth, if you would graciously give me what I desire, I would never be in like mind to harass or discourage you from whatever proceedings you wish to amuse, my great lord."

"Petty, uneducated miscreant; do you believe that I would dare show my face in the light which you live in? This is the one place where I can rule in contentment, living in only your knowledge as the beast I appear to be, while you roam freely, masquerading wherever you go that you are nothing more than a beautiful damsel in neediness."

"You dare call me needy and false when for all your life you have not seen once the creatures you rule for fear that they will reject you? What grounds do you have to call me unflattering names that do not describe one ounce of my character? I want nothing more than this property; you can go dig yourself a hole somewhere else - "

"Desirous wretch!" The beast hollered, "I know what such a present to you would cause! You would have me give up my throne like a child unable to handle his inheritance, and I in result would be forsaken by all mortals on the planet and forced to live in misery for the remainder of eternity."

"Stated bluntly, yes."

While such flabbergasting comments were being interchanged, Taichi stood next to the woman dumbly, not having the slightest inclination to what affairs these statements were made. So he soon lost his patience, and, deciding that the conversation was likely to go on for several more hours at the least, he paced around the room, staring now and then into the numerous blood puddles on the floor. He did not desire to run away from the sight of the beast, but felt oddly obligated to stay, though he had no reason to wonder at it. While he thus was exploring the room and its contents, Sora, Daisuke, and Hikari came to the entrance and stared down into the spacious cavern, eagerly searching for Taichi. They saw him standing at the edge of a particularly large puddle, and likewise watched him crouch down and stick a finger into the stillness of it. With horrifying slowness, a transparent hand escaped from the depths of the blood and came to rest near his feet, tapping idly at the stone floor. The three companions were just as scared of this hand as Taichi was, whom it was nearly on, and automatically repulsed when it slid up further and touched his pants. He shouted out in surprise, and tried desperately to get away, but the hand held him tighter and then began to drag him slowly into the pool of blood. During this gradual take over of Taichi, the woman and the beast were continuing their discourse, both of them taking color to their face now that the conversation was turning into an argument. 

"I will never give into your barbaric, treacherous ways!"

"But our agreement!"

"I never made any such agreement and never will, traitor Akuma!"

A long pause gripped the chamber as even the submerging Taichi wondered at this new name for the woman. Akuma…?

"Wait, wait," whispered Hikari to her friends, "let me guess: the other guy's name is Kami?"

All three coughed simultaneously, and would have laughed had not their friend been down on the same level and proximity as the two powerful beings. Kami and Akuma…this would explain many things.

Taichi finally pulled himself out of the hand's grip and stood up quickly. He stared at the hand he had used to shake the woman's with. He had shaken hands with the devil? Didn't that put him in some sort of eternal slave-like nature? He shuddered. 

"Akuma…" the woman sighed, "this is the name you give to me?"

"It is a name you deserve, for you continually harassed me in such ways to be sure of your disposition."

"The disposition of hell?"

The beast nodded.

"And so you would call yourself Kami, wouldn't you?"

"It is without a doubt my destiny."

Quieting herself for a moment, she soon burst out in such rage that her voice crumbled the stone of the very floor.

"Never could I have been Kami! My mother was so blessed with attributes of an angel, but my father was such a sinful thief! He has ruined me! The blood that runs in me is his, take it out! Take it out! TAKE IT OUT! I will never suffer to live with him in my blood, him in my mind; can't a child forget the memories of their father! Can't one just push out all of their father's thoughts and actions! If I am the devil than I curse him to an eternal suffering with me as his master, me as his torturer; no other devil shall lay hands on him but me! No other of my kin shall give him pain but me, for I have had to endure all of his pains, all of his sins, and look what they turned me into! A child should not have to bare their parents' sins! A child…shouldn't be subjected to a life that they had no chance to choose. Kami! If you be so powerful as the notions are, why can a child not have the endearment of choice! What liberty, what rationale do you possess to dictate the very lives of innocent children who are to be punished under their father's doings, and who cannot know otherwise! Oh, Kami, if only your own parents had been so hellish as he was, perhaps you would not be so harsh upon my soul when I choose to leave this place. But can I beg for mercy now when I have my entire life humiliated and insulted you, to your face and behind it; slinking in the shadows like the poor, worthless animal that I am. May my father forever be in the worst curses any of us can describe, and may he be at the end of every whip that is lashed, and may he loathe the day that he stained my mother's dignity and ruined his child's eternal soul." After all her lamentations, she looked upon Kami with tears in her eyes that would move the hardest and cruelest of people. 

"Akuma," Kami said, "you are truly miserable beyond comparison, but not because of your ancestry, but because of the choices that you did have the liberty to make. Your understanding is muddled, and for such reasons I will reveal to you one of my secrets, so keep your ears wide, for you are not worthy of such honor as I am about to bestow upon your worthless soul. In your pitiful speech, you questioned my rationale pertaining to not letting children decide what parents they are born to, correct? Because, unworthy devil, it is not your line of blood which makes you, or your belief in me, but the choices that you make when you come to a conscious age. You could have not chosen to follow your father and could in all truth have replaced me, but instead you chose to be corrupted by your father's evil doings, and instead of healing the weak, you killed, instead of loving, you hated, instead of growing, you destroyed, and there are so many other reasons which I could bequeath upon your weak heart and mind, but I am told to cut it short, for there are some listening who despise the word of me more than you do. Be at peace, though, for I have sentenced your father to burn unaccounted for in the inferno that hell is. There he sits, and will sit forevermore, wondering what happened of my renowned forgiveness. There is no such thing as forgiveness in divinity, Akuma. There are no shades of justice, no loopholes for criminals to peek through. There is me, and that alone forsakes that phony mortal belief of forgiveness. Are you content with this?"

"How could I be?"

"Yes, indeed, how could anyone but I be content with my word?" Here Kami smiled, but it was quick and hard to catch. "But for your treacheries, you are also bound to the fate of hell, so there you may reunite with your father and tell him now that you have the confidence how much you hate him."

"For what am I sent to hell?"

"Many things, but I will list one and that will give you an idea of my "forgiveness": you tore out a piece of grass purposely, consciously. That is but one reason, but that alone would have sent you to hell anyway."

"That seems very harsh a sentence for so innocent a crime."

"Innocent! Didn't I tell all of you to never destroy life! I warned you, I gave you all fair warning! It is not my fault that you do not follow the rules and are banished from heaven."

"But it is your fault for making such nugatory rules."

"Do you want two eternities in hell?"

"Kami, may I ask how many people are in heaven as of now?"

"No, you may not, but when you're in the fires of your own ungodliness, perhaps just by sight of the numbers burning alongside of your body you could make a reasonable judgment on the number who actually listened to me."

She nodded curtly, and then turned to Taichi. 

"Worthy human," she said, completely taking Taichi by surprise, "forgive me for harming your friend long ago who spies now, but may he and you be witness to the carnage and inhumanity of God. May you be a messenger to your country of the inconveniences of God and his word. Your country, as I understand it, is under attack from none other than God, for it harbored my body for a time. Even though it was a fleeting time, it was enough to poison your country and for God to wish its annihilation. Forgive me, though I believe once I am gone all will return to normal at God's will, and those who died will revive, and those who perished from faint will welcome their souls again. Let me be an example to all humans, though I care naught for them, only for you, and even that I do not understand, so that all will rival God and his ridiculous word, rise up in hatred against God and his demeaning actions. I am not sure if you shall win against such a being, but trust me that, though I be the devil, I am on your side, and that is not such a bad thing."

She kissed his cheek, then his forehead, and held his hand for a second. There was nothing more to say. She turned, walked away into the shadows, and soon Taichi could no longer hear her soft footsteps. He looked to Kami, who sat passively and still, like nothing had occurred. He looked up to his friends in the threshold, and began to climb up the stairs to them. They received him with hugs and tears, though he had done no physical battle. They journeyed to the world outside and found the woman true to her word: all life was restored, and the desert turned into a savannah. 

**The End     …?**

(Some notes from the author)

I understand I left practically half of what happened not completely tied up, but hey, if you're seriously into the story and have some questions, just ask at Imoto@satx.rr.com . I'd love to get comments, even flames, on this story because I particularly enjoyed writing it. Nya!

Also, I know towards the end that it's pretty controversial "stuff", so if I offended anyone in anyway: it's just a story, so don't take it personally. I would rather not have someone preaching to me via email about god's _good_ side, when I am so blandly interested in his bad side. ^.^

Mo ikkai: I suppose it'd be nice to say that Japan also returned to normal (though I was having so much fun with that part…_not_). Heh, maybe I'll continue on this, but recently I was neglecting the story so I thought it would be best to end it. Hint the quick and unsatisfying conclusion…I was going to have so much fun with all the sentimental mushy stuff, too. But as I said, perhaps I'll pick it up again some other day, some other time…

Take care,

Lauren (a.k.a Saki)


End file.
